A consumer filed a class action lawsuit against a commercial airline on May 30, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleging three violations of California state law related to unfair and...more
6/6/2023
/ Advertising ,
Airline Deregulation Act ,
Airlines ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Carbon Off-Set Credits ,
Class Action ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Greenwashing ,
Preemption
On March 16, 2020, a U.S. carrier was held before takeoff at JFK International Airport in New York after a passenger alerted flight attendants that they were exposed to someone who had tested positive for coronavirus. The...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently affirmed the forum non conveniens dismissal of wrongful death and product liability claims brought by personal representatives and beneficiaries of...more
1/28/2020
/ Abuse of Discretion ,
Airlines ,
Airplane Accidents ,
Appeals ,
Aviation Industry ,
Boeing ,
Dismissals ,
Evidence ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Forum Non Conveniens ,
Jurisdiction ,
Malaysia ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
Product Defects ,
Public Interest ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
Transportation Industry ,
Wrongful Death
The Montreal Convention governs the rights and liabilities of parties for claims arising during international carriage between State Parties. Specifically, Articles 21 and 22 of the Convention set forth limits of liability...more
In Erwin-Simpson v. AirAsia Berhad, __ F. Supp. 3d __, No. 18-cv-00083 (CRC), 2019 WL 1317337 (D.D.C. Mar. 22, 2019), the court dismissed personal injury claims by a passenger and her husband arising from spilled boiling...more
5/1/2019
/ Airlines ,
Aviation Industry ,
Bodily Injury ,
Dismissals ,
Forum State ,
General Jurisdiction ,
Montreal Convention ,
Personal Jurisdiction ,
Physical Presence Test ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Travelers ,
Websites
In Garcia v Aerovias de Mexico, S. A., the district court remanded all but two actions among 14 that had been removed to federal court on diversity of jurisdiction and federal question grounds. The cases arose from the failed...more
On Nov. 21, 2018, multidistrict litigation (MDL) Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson dismissed all pending wrongful death cases arising from the disappearance of Flight MH370 on forum non conveniens (FNC) grounds. The court concluded...more
12/3/2018
/ Air Carriers ,
Airlines ,
Aviation Industry ,
Dismissals ,
Forum Non Conveniens ,
ICAO ,
Malaysia ,
Manufacturers ,
Montreal Convention ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
Res Ipsa Loquitur ,
Transportation Industry ,
Wrongful Death
The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits recently affirmed district court opinions holding that the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) preempted state law claims that challenged prices charged by air ambulance...more
10/15/2018
/ Airline Deregulation Act ,
Airlines ,
Ambulance Providers ,
Appeals ,
Breach of Implied Contract ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Damages ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Insurance Contracts ,
Preemption ,
Pricing ,
Putative Class Actions ,
State Law Claims ,
Unjust Enrichment
• Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) preempts class action claims seeking to enforce Florida statute that limits an air ambulance operator's prices by prohibiting balance billing of unpaid invoices.
• McCarran-Ferguson Act...more
5/25/2018
/ Airline Deregulation Act ,
Airlines ,
Ambulance Providers ,
Aviation Industry ,
Billing ,
Class Action ,
Dismissals ,
Insurance Industry ,
McCarran-Ferguson Act ,
Preemption ,
Pricing ,
Summary Judgment
In Martin v. United Airlines, Inc., __ Fed. App'x __, 2018 WL 992289 (10th Cir. Feb. 21, 2018), Oklahoma residents brought a putative class action asserting various breach of contract theories against the airline arising from...more
3/20/2018
/ Airline Deregulation Act ,
Airlines ,
Airports ,
Appeals ,
Aviation Industry ,
Breach of Contract ,
Contract Terms ,
Cost Recovery ,
Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing ,
Failure To State A Claim ,
Preemption ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Refunds ,
Ticket Pricing ,
Travelers ,
United Airlines
Unruly passenger incidents on commercial aircraft are an endemic problem for the airline industry. Such incidents threaten the safety and security of all on board, disrupt operations and result in significant economic losses...more
In litigation arising from the July 2013 accident of Asiana Flight 214 at the San Francisco International Airport, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the District Court's remand decision, holding that...more
7/10/2015
/ Airlines ,
Airplane Accidents ,
Airports ,
Asiana ,
Aviation Industry ,
Federal Admiralty Law ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Navigable Waters ,
NTSB ,
San Francisco ,
SCOTUS ,
SFO
In Vanderwall v. United Airlines, Inc., __ F. Supp. 3d __, 2015 WL 309094 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 26, 2015), a federal district court in Florida granted summary judgment to the airline dismissing personal injury claims by a passenger...more
In personal injury or death cases, Article 33 of the Montreal Convention provides five jurisdictions in which an action against the airline can be brought: (1) an air carrier’s place of domicile; (2) an air carrier’s...more
In April 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) preempted a frequent flyer program member's common law claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing because the...more
In Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. v. Hoeper, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that immunity may not be denied under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) to substantially true statements. According to the Court,...more
1/30/2014
/ Air Wisconsin v. Hoeper ,
Airline Employees ,
Airlines ,
ATSA ,
Aviation Industry ,
First Amendment ,
Immunity ,
National Security ,
SCOTUS ,
Sonia Sotomayor ,
Transportation Security Administration
In the past few months, courts have issued several decisions favorable to the airlines finding preemption of various state law claims and rejecting breach of contract claims. The decisions address a variety of passenger...more
Resolving an issue of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Brown v. United Airlines, Inc. affirmed the district court's holding that common law claims, like statutory claims, are subject to...more
This spring, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review two decisions that significantly affect the aviation industry, namely airline immunity under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) and preemption...more