Margolis v. United Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 January 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-CV-71662-DT.,92-CV-71662-DT.
• Parties: Geraldine MARGOLIS and Jerry Margolis, Plaintiff, v. UNITED AIRLINES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

811 F. Supp. 318

Geraldine MARGOLIS and Jerry Margolis, Plaintiff, v. UNITED AIRLINES, INC., Defendant.

No. 92-CV-71662-DT.

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, S.D.

January 25, 1993.

William Pultusker, Southfield, MI, for plaintiff.

Mona Lisa T. Cichosz, Detroit, MI, for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS

EDMUNDS, District Judge.

Introduction

This matter has come before the Court on Defendant United Airlines' Motion to Dismiss.¹ Arguing that Plaintiffs' claims for negligence are preempted by Section 1305 of the Airline Deregulation Act, Defendant moves this Court to dismiss Plaintiffs' complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. For the reasons stated herein, Defendant's motion is denied.

Statement of Facts and Claims

Plaintiff Geraldine Margolis claims she sustained injuries on a United Airlines flight on August 5, 1991, when a luggage carrier fell from an overhead bin and struck her on the head. Plaintiff alleges that she suffered a closed head injury and a balance disorder. As a result of her injury, Geraldine Margolis and her husband, Jerry Margolis, brought this negligence action against Defendant United Airlines.

The Complaint alleges that United Airlines is responsible for the acts of its employees, that United Airlines and its employees had a duty to exercise due care, and that an employee of United Airlines breached his or her duty of care by negligently causing a luggage carrier to fall from the overhead bin, thus injuring Geraldine Margolis. Paragraphs 4, 6, and 7 of the Complaint. Plaintiff's Complaint also alleges that United Airlines negligently trained and hired its employees, negligently maintained the airplane in an unsafe condition, and negligently failed to warn passengers of the unsafe condition. Paragraph 8 of the Complaint. Geraldine Margolis has brought suit against United for damages for personal injury. Her husband, Jerry Margolis, claims loss of consortium.

Motion to Dismiss Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) provides that a defendant may move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In considering such motions, a court must accept as true all well-pleaded facts in the complaint. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). Further, the Court must read the complaint as a whole, viewing it broadly and liberally in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(f). Rule 8(f) provides, "All pleadings shall be so construed as to do substantial justice."

As noted above, the complaint specifically alleges negligent training and hiring of employees, negligent maintenance of the airplane, and failure to warn passengers of unsafe conditions on the airplane. It also generally alleges that Defendant is liable for the negligence of its employees. See paragraphs 4, 6, and 7 of the complaint. In light of the mandate of Rule 8(f), the Court construes Plaintiffs' complaint as also alleging a general negligence claim, that is, a claim that United Airlines is vicariously liable for its employee's breach of the duty of reasonable care.

Discussion

As a general rule, federal law preempts state law where (1) Congress has expressly preempted state law, Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 95, 103 S.Ct. 2890, 2898, 77 L.Ed.2d 490 (1983); (2) where Congressional intent to preempt may be inferred generally from the pervasiveness of the federal regulatory scheme, Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 230, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 1152, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947); and (3) where state law conflicts with federal law or interferes with the achievement of congressional objectives, Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul, 373 U.S. 132, 142-43, 83 S.Ct. 1210, 1217, 10 L.Ed.2d 248 (1963).

Defendant argues that the state law claims which form the basis of Plaintiff's action are expressly preempted by federal law. United Airlines is an air carrier authorized to conduct air transportation and organized pursuant to the Federal Aviation Act, 49 U.S.C.A.App. § 1301-1551 (West 1976 and Supp.1992). Section 1305(a) of this Act provides as follows:

(a) Preemption

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, no State or political subdivision thereof and no interstate agency or other political agency of two or more states shall enact or enforce any law, rule, regulation, standard or other provision having the force and effect of law relating to rates, routes, or services of any air carrier having authority under subchapter IV of this chapter to provide air transportation.

49 U.S.C.A.App. § 1305(a)(1) (West Supp. 1992). To understand the intent and scope of this provision, it is important to consider its historical context.

History of Airlines Regulatory Legislation²

In 1938 Congress created the Civil Aeronautics Board and authorized it to regulate entry into the interstate airline industry, the routes that airlines could fly, and the fares that they could charge consumers. The 1938 Act included a "savings clause" which provided as follows:

Nothing contained in this chapter shall in any way abridge or alter the remedies now existing at common law or by statute, but the provisions of this chapter are in addition to such remedies.

49 U.S.C.A.App. § 1506 (West 1976).

Although the 1938 Act was replaced by a similar regulatory scheme in 1958, the principal provisions of the statute remained in effect until 1978. In that year, Congress decided to withdraw economic regulation of interstate airline rates, routes and services. Congress therefore enacted the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (ADA) "to encourage, develop, and attain an air transportation system which relies on competitive market forces to determine the quality, variety and price of air services." H.R.Rep. No. 95-1779, 95th Cong., 2d Sess., 53, reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3737. To avoid the frustration of that goal by the substitution of state regulations for the recently removed federal regulations, Congress enacted § 105(a) of the ADA, which preempts any state law "relating to rates, routes, or services of any air carrier having authority under subchapter IV of this chapter to provide air transportation." Section 105(a) of the ADA, the preemption provision, became section 1305(a) of the Federal Aviation Act (FAA). 49 U.S.C.A.App. § 1305(a)(1). Congress also retained the savings clause that preserved common law and statutory remedies. 49 U.S.C.A.App. § 1506 (West 1976).

In promulgating regulations pursuant to the Airline Deregulation Act, the Civil Aeronautics Board focused on the two underlying purposes of the Act — to prevent state economic regulation from frustrating the benefits of federal deregulation, and to clarify the confusion under the prior law which permitted some dual state and federal regulation of the rates and routes of the same carrier. 44 Fed.Reg. 9948-49 (1979).³ The Board thus explained that:

Section 105 forbids state regulation of a federally authorized carrier's routes, rates, or services. Clearly, states may not interfere with a federal carrier's decision on how much to charge or which markets to serve.... Similarly, a state may not interfere with the services that carriers offer in exchange for their rates and fares. For example, liquidated damages for bumping (denial of boarding), segregation of smoking passengers, minimum liability for loss, damages, and delayed baggage, and ancillary charges for headsets, alcoholic beverages, entertainment, and excess baggage would clearly be "service" regulation within the meaning of section 105.

Additionally, we conclude that regulation of capital structure, minimum insurance requirements, bonding, etc. motivated by a desire to protect the quality of service is included with the preemption imposed in section 105.

Id. at 9951. A state common law claim based on negligence and the standard of reasonable care does not purport to regulate the services that air carriers provide to their customers in exchange for their fares. The common law of negligence does not hold the airlines to a different standard of care from that provided by the Federal Aviation Act and related regulations.⁴ Further, nowhere in the legislative history or in the evolution of the statute is there any suggestion that the preemption provision of the Airline Deregulation Act was intended to preclude common law negligence actions.

Case Authority Prior to Morales

Prior to the Supreme Court opinion in Morales, ___ U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 2031 (1992), case law concerning preemption divided fairly neatly between economic or regulatory issues and personal injury, damage or negligence issues. Although there was some disagreement concerning the scope of preemption, most courts which considered the issue held that preemption under section 1305(a) was a broad prohibition against incursions into the field of air carrier regulation. TransWorld Airlines, Inc. v. Mattox, 897 F.2d 773 (5th Cir.) (state deceptive advertising laws), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 926, 111 S.Ct. 307, 112 L.Ed.2d 261 (1990); O'Carroll v. American Airlines, Inc., 863 F.2d 11 (5th Cir.) (claim for "wrongful exclusion" of boisterous passenger), cert. denied sub nom. O'Carroll v. Chaparral Airlines, Inc., 490 U.S. 1106, 109 S.Ct. 3158, 104 L.Ed.2d 1021 (1989); Hingson v. Pacific Southwest Airlines, 743 F.2d 1408 (9th Cir.1984) (discrimination against blind passengers); Diefenthal v. Civil Aeronautics Board, 681 F.2d 1039 (5th Cir.1982) (smoking regulations), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1107, 103 S.Ct. 732, 74 L.Ed.2d 956 (1983); Anderson v. USAir, Inc., 818 F.2d 49 (D.C.Cir.1987) (regulation of air carrier seating policies for handicapped passengers); VonAnhalt v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 735 F.Supp. 1030 (S.D.Fla. 1990) (claims for negligence, defamation, assault and battery relating to exclusion of boisterous passengers).

Several...