In re Mid-Air Collision Near Fairland, Indiana, 30.
| Decision Date | 10 February 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 30.,30. |
| Parties | In re Multidistrict Personal Injury Litigation Arising from the MID-AIR COLLISION Near FAIRLAND, INDIANA on September 9, 1969. |
| Court | Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation |
Before ALFRED P. MURRAH, Chairman, and JOHN MINOR WISDOM, EDWARD WEINFELD, EDWIN A. ROBSON, WILLIAM H. BECKER, JOSEPH S. LORD, III, and STANLEY A. WEIGEL, Judges of the Panel.
On September 9, 1969 an Allegheny Airlines DC-9 enroute from Cincinnati, Ohio to Indianapolis, Indiana collided with a Piper Cherokee and crashed near Shelbyville, Indiana. The 78 passengers and the four crew members of the DC-9 were killed. The pilot of the small aircraft was killed also. The actions on Schedule A are death actions to recover damages resulting from the deaths of persons killed in this disaster.1 Following notice to all parties, a hearing was held on motions of one of the defendants and several of the plaintiffs to consider transfer of these actions to a single district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings under 28 U.S.C.A. Section 1407.
All parties represented at the hearing favor transfer of these actions to a single district under 28 U.S.C. Section 1407 but they do not agree on the choice of the transferee court. We agree with counsel for the Ohio plaintiffs2 who point out in their brief:
The questions of fact and law applicable to liability will be virtually identical in all of these actions and, thus, this clearly is a situation in which consolidation for pretrial proceeding is appropriate pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1407. The only real question is where proceedings should be consolidated.
Defendants Allegheny Airlines and the United States favor transfer of all actions to the Southern District of Indiana as do plaintiffs in actions pending in the Southern District of Indiana, the District of Connecticut and the Eastern District of New York.3 The plaintiffs in actions pending in the Southern District of Ohio, the Southern District of West Virginia and the Eastern District of Tennessee favor transfer of all actions to the Southern District of Ohio.
With at least 38 actions pending in seven districts there can be little doubt that this is multidistrict litigation within the meaning of Section 1407. The facts relating to the cause of the collision are common to all of these actions. In re Cincinnati Air Disaster (TWA), 298 F.Supp. 353 (JPML 1968). The parties agree that the transfer of these actions to a single district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings will serve the convenience of parties and witnesses and will promote the just and efficient conduct of these actions. The statutory criteria for transfers under Section 1407 are clearly met.
Counsel for the parties favoring transfer to the Southern District of Ohio rely on the fact that there are more actions now pending in that district than in any other single district.4 While the number of actions pending in a potential transferee district is relevant to the selection of the most appropriate district, it is certainly not controlling especially where, as here, the actions are nearly equally divided between two districts.
Factors favoring the selection of the Southern District of Indiana include: (1) numerous eye-witnesses to the collision reside in that district, (2) much of the potentially relevant material evidence is located in Indianapolis5 and (3) the owner of the Piper Cherokee is an Indiana corporation with its principal office in Indianapolis. Perhaps most important is the fact that the crash occurred in the Southern District of Indiana.
We have consistently held that the district encompassing the situs of the crash is generally the most appropriate transferee district for litigation of this type. In re Hendersonville, North Carolina Air Disaster Litigation, 297 F.Supp. 1039 (JPML 1969); In re Ardmore, Oklahoma Air Disaster Litigation, 295 F.Supp. 45 (JPML 1968); In re Cincinnati Air Disaster Litigation (TWA), supra; In re Cincinnati Air Disaster Litigation (American Airlines), 295 F. Supp. 51 (JPML 1968). There are no unusual circumstances present in this litigation which support a departure from this precedent.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the actions listed on the attached Schedule A pending in other districts be and the same are hereby transferred to the Southern District of Indiana pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1407 and with the consent of that court these actions are assigned to the Honorable Cale J. Holder for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings.6
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...common questions of fact with actions previously transferred under Section 1407." See also In re Mid-Air Collision Near Fairland, Indiana, 309 F.Supp. 621, 622 n. 1 (Jud.Pan.Mult.Lit.1970) (any cases filed after petition for transfer would be considered tag-along cases); Manual for Complex ......
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