Román v. Spirit Airlines, Inc.

• Decision Date: 31 August 2020
• Docket Number: 19-CIV-62725-RAR,CASE NO. 19-CIV-61461-RAR
• Parties: Yarinell ROMÁN, et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. SPIRIT AIRLINES, INC., Defendant. Cintya Larios Guzman, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. Spirit Airlines, Inc., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

482 F.Supp.3d 1304

Yarinell ROMÁN, et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs,

v.SPIRIT AIRLINES, INC., Defendant.

Cintya Larios Guzman, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiff,

v.Spirit Airlines, Inc., Defendant.

CASE NO. 19-CIV-61461-RAR

19-CIV-62725-RAR

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

Signed August 31, 2020

Janet Robards Varnell, Brian William Warwick, Varnell and Warwick, P.A., Lady Lake, FL, Erika Roxanne Willis, Varnell & Warwick, P.A., Tampa, FL, Gregory P. Smith, Pro Hac Vice, Oldham & Smith, Tavares, FL, Matthew Peterson, Varnell and Warwick, P.A., Tampa Bay, FL, for Plaintiffs Yarinell Roman, Paul Roberts, II, Joaquin Rivera.

Paul T. Geske, William P.N. Kingston, McGuire Law, P.C., Chicago, IL, David Patrick Healy, Tallahassee, FL, for Plaintiff Cintya Larios Guzman.

Alec Huff Schultz, Carly Abramson Kligler, Leon Cosgrove LLC, Coral Gables, FL, Scott R. Torpey, Pro Hac Vice, Timothy J. O'Connell, Pro Hac Vice, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss, P.C., Southfield, MI, for Defendant.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS

RODOLFO A. RUIZ II, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This cause is before the Court on Defendant Spirit Airlines, Inc.’s ("Spirit") Motion to Dismiss Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c) [ECF No. 54] ("Motion"). The Motion asks the Court to dismiss two related class action cases that have been consolidated for purposes of discovery [ECF No. 67]: Román, et al. v. Spirit Airlines, Inc. , Case No. 19-cv-61461-RAR ("Román Action") and Guzman v. Spirit Airlines, Inc. , Case No. 19-cv-62725-RAR ("Guzman Action").¹ Both cases relate to Spirit's Shortcut Security Program ("Shortcut Security"), whereby customers were offered the ability to bypass the standard airport security line for an additional fee. Plaintiffs in both cases purchased Shortcut Security, allegedly never received the benefit of their bargain, and sued Spirit for breach of contract.

In its Motion, Spirit argues that if it breached any contract, it breached its own Contract of Carriage—which contains a valid and enforceable class action waiver. And, given that Plaintiffs only invoke federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act, 28 U.S.C. section 1332(d), the Court therefore lacks subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ individual claims. Plaintiffs respond that they entered into a contract separate and apart from Spirit's Contract of Carriage when they purchased Shortcut Security and thus have not waived the right to seek relief for their claims as a class.

The Court has reviewed the Motion, Plaintiffs’ Response in Opposition [ECF No. 58] ("Response"),² Spirit's Reply [ECF No. 60] ("Reply"), and the record. Being fully advised, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Spirit's Motion [ECF No. 54] is GRANTED . Both the Román Action and the Guzman Action are DISMISSED for the reasons set forth herein. The Clerk is instructed to CLOSE this case and any pending motions are DENIED as moot .³

BACKGROUND

Spirit is a budget airline that offers low basic fares. Compl. [ECF No. 1] at ¶ 18. "Spirit attempts to make up for lost profits by offering consumers the opportunity to contract for further amenities or services." Id. Among those offerings is Spirit's "Shortcut Security" service, which purports to provide passengers who purchase the service some form of expedited security process. Id. at ¶ 19. Spirit offers consumers the opportunity to enter into a standard form Shortcut Security contract online at www.spirit.com and at Spirit-electronic and Spirit-agent-staffed kiosks. Id. at ¶¶ 20-21. These cases involve four Plaintiffs—Yarinell Román, Paul Roberts II, Joaquin Rivera, and Cintya Larios Guzman—all of whom entered into a Shortcut Security contract and maintain they did not receive any form of expedited security process.

A. Spirit's Contract of Carriage

The rights and remedies of all Spirit passengers are governed by Spirit's Contract of Carriage ("COC"). See Compl. at Ex. A [ECF No. 1-3].⁴ Spirit's COC governs all aspects of its services—from the initial purchase of passengers’ reservations (id. at § 2.1), to retrieving checked baggage (id. at § 7.3.4.1), paying fares and other fees (id. at § 3), and everything in between: checking-in prior to the flight (id. at § 2.3); arriving at the airport (id. at § 2.3.2); presenting identification and other travel documentation (id. at §§ 4.1-4.2); obtaining boarding passes (id. at §§ 2.3.1, 2.4.1); security screening and security checkpoints (id. at § 2.3.2); being available for boarding at the gate prior to the scheduled departure time (id. at § 2.4.1.(b)); seats (id. at § 4.11); checked and carry-on baggage, including any applicable increases in baggage charges (id. at §§ 7.1-7.3); and applying for refunds (id. at §§ 10.1, 10.4).

Spirit's COC contains certain claims restrictions, limits on liability, and contractual alteration processes. Id. at §§ 3.1, 12.1-12.4, 13.2-13.3. Among these is a clear and explicit class action waiver provision:

No Class Action – Any case brought pursuant to this Contract of Carriage, Spirit's Tarmac Delay Plan, or Spirit's Customer Service Plan must be brought in a party's individual capacity and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding.

Id. at § 13.2. Also included is a temporal limitation within which passengers must file a claim or bring an action against Spirit:

Time Limit – No legal action may be brought by a passenger against Spirit or its directors, officers, employees or agents unless commenced within six (6) months from the date of the alleged incident.

Id. at § 13.3. Moreover, the COC expressly states that one or more of a series of "[a]dditional Spirit optional services" and charges may apply in connection with a passenger's transportation. Id. at § 3.1 ("All domestic and international fares are per customer for each way of travel and include the base fare plus any applicable taxes, fees and surcharges ... Additional Spirit optional services may apply."). "Optional services may be purchased separately during the booking process by calling Reservations, on spirit.com or at the airports." Id. at § 3.3.4.

Spirit provides optional services in four main categories: bags, seats, memberships, and "other." See Mot. at Ex. F⁵ ; Compl. at ¶ 18. These include such services as overweight or oversized baggage, customer-requested seat assignments and upgraded "Big Front Seats," and membership in Spirit's "$9 Fare Club." See Mot. at Ex. F. Additionally, optional services under "other" include printed boarding passes, onboard snacks and drinks, change fees, and other "extras," including "Shortcut Security." Id. Spirit's website states that "Shortcut Security access is available in select airport locations ... and gives access to the quickest possible lane to get through the security screening experience. At some airports, these are expedited queuing lanes - not necessarily dedicated screening lanes." See Mot. at Ex. G⁶ ("Is this TSA PreCheck? No, Shortcut Security isn't TSA PreCheck. It gives customers the ability to get to security screening using one of the fastest lines available. Customers who have TSA PreCheck have access to special security lanes/privileges not available with Shortcut Security.").

B. Relevant Federal Regulations

An airline's "[c]ontract of [c]arriage is a federally regulated contract that governs the rights of the parties."

Pons v. Arubaanse Luchtvaart Maatschappij , No. 17-cv-22008, 2018 WL 2188477, at *3 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 29, 2018). Contracts of carriage are regulated by the Federal Aviation Regulations, 14 C.F.R. § 1.1 et seq. ("FARs"). An airline's contract of carriage "applies to all scheduled direct air carrier operations in interstate ... air transportation [and] applies to all contracts with passengers, for those operations, that incorporate terms by reference." 14 C.F.R. § 253.2 ; see also id. § 253.3 ("Passenger means any person who purchases ... air transportation."). An airline's contracted services "include items such as ticketing, boarding procedures, provision of food and drink, and baggage handling, in addition to the transportation itself. These matters are all appurtenant and necessarily included with the contract of carriage between the passenger ... and the airline." Koutsouradis v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. , 427 F.3d 1339, 1343 n.1 (11th Cir. 2005) (quoting Hodges v. Delta Airlines, Inc. , 4 F.3d 350, 354 (5th Cir. 1993) ). Further, "[t]he procedures used to move passengers from the terminal onto the plane in an orderly fashion [which] are an integral part of the customer's experience of air travel" are appurtenant and necessarily included with the contract of carriage. Branche v. Airtran Airways, Inc. , 342 F.3d 1248, 1258 (11th Cir. 2003).

The FARs expressly permit airlines to incorporate contracts of carriage into passengers’ tickets or other written instruments. 14 C.F.R. § 253.4(a). These include "optional services that are available to a passenger purchasing air transportation." Id. § 399.85(d); id. § 399.84(c) (when offering tickets for passenger air transportation, air carriers may also "offer additional services in connection with air transportation" so long as "[t]he consumer affirmatively ‘opt[s] in’ (i.e., agree) to such a service and the fee for it before that fee is added to the total price for the air transportation-related purchase."). "[T]he term ‘optional services’ is defined as any service the airline provides, for a fee, beyond passenger air transportation. Such fees include, but are not limited to, charges for checked or carry-on baggage, advance seat selection, in-flight beverages, snacks and meals, pillows and blankets and seat upgrades." Id. § 399.85(d). The optional services fee "is added to the total price for the air transportation-related service." Id. § 399.84(c).

"[T]he carrier must prominently disclose on its website information on fees for all optional services that are available to a...