Adler v. WestJet Airlines, Ltd.
| Decision Date | 08 July 2014 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 13–62824–CIV. |
| Citation | 31 F.Supp.3d 1381 |
| Parties | Barry ADLER and Melissa Adler, Plaintiffs, v. WESTJET AIRLINES, LTD., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
Nolan Keith Klein, Law Offices of Nolan Klein, P.A., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for Plaintiffs.
John Michael Pennekamp, Lelia Maria Menendez, Richard Paul Morris, Fowler White Burnett P.A., Miami, FL, for Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO DISMISS
THIS CAUSE is before the Court upon Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint [DE 15] (“Motion”). The Court has considered the Motion, Plaintiffs' Opposition [DE 21], and Defendant's Reply [DE 22], and is otherwise advised in the premises.
This action arises from harms that Plaintiffs Barry (“Barry”) and Melissa (“Melissa”) Adler allegedly suffered at the hands of WestJet Airlines, Ltd. (“WestJet”), when a WestJet flight crew ejected the Adlers from a Fort Lauderdale–Toronto flight before take-off. In September 2012, the Adlers made plans to travel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Toronto, Canada. DE 1 ¶ 7.1 They bought tickets for a September 18, 2012, flight with WestJet. Id. ¶¶ 7, 9. Melissa suffers from numerous medical conditions and must be accompanied by a service animal. Id. ¶ 8. Melissa therefore sought advance approval from WestJet for her service animal, a four-pound Yorkshire Terrier (id. ¶ 10), to accompany her on the flight. Id. ¶ 8. WestJet approved Melissa's request in writing. Id.; DE 1–1.
On the day of their flight, the Adlers arrived at Fort Lauderdale International Airport well ahead of time. DE 1 ¶ 9. The Adlers checked in and took their boarding passes to the gate. Id. At the gate, however, the Adlers were told that WestJet's senior flight attendant felt that Melissa's dog would disturb the other passengers. Id. ¶ 10. WestJet thus moved the Adlers from their reserved seats to another pair of seats where the flight attendant thought the Adlers would cause less disruption. Id.
The Adlers boarded the airplane and took their newly assigned seats. Id. ¶ 11. While waiting for take-off, Melissa took various medications, including some meant to induce sleep. Id. Melissa soon fell asleep with her dog on her lap. Id. While Melissa slept, Barry remarked to the flight attendant who had required them to change their seats that Melissa's dog was not causing any disturbance. Id. The flight attendant responded that she was uncomfortable with the Adlers and their dog being on the airplane. Id. The flight attendant informed Barry that the aircraft would return to the gate, and that the Adlers would have to deplane. Id.
Upon reaching the gate, WestJet's personnel required the Adlers to get up and leave the airplane. Id. ¶ 12. Unfortunately, Melissa, who had taken sleep-inducing medication, had difficulty standing up and walking off of the aircraft. Id. ¶¶ 12–13. The Adlers told the crew that Melissa would have trouble walking to the gate without assistance. Id. ¶ 13. The crew, however, did not provide any assistance, such as a wheelchair, and the Adlers left the airplane under their own power. Id. At the gate, Barry demanded an explanation for their removal from the airplane, but received none.Id. ¶ 14. The Adlers returned to their home in Broward County that evening. Id. ¶ 15. The same night, a WestJet employee telephoned the Adlers, apologized for their removal from the airplane, and arranged for the Adlers to fly from Miami to Toronto the next day. Id.
The Adlers commenced this suit against WestJet on December 31, 2013, contending that their unreasonable removal from WestJet's airplane on September 18, 2012, caused them numerous injuries. Melissa, who suffers from a progressive disease of the nervous system (id. ¶ 29), contends that being forced to walk from the aircraft after taking sleep-inducing medication exacerbated her condition and caused her a great deal of pain. The Adlers also allege that they were humiliated when they were ejected from the airplane. The Adlers assert three causes of action on this basis: (1) negligence; (2) fraudulent misrepresentation; and (3) negligent training and supervision. Id. ¶¶ 25–46. In the instant Motion, WestJet has moved to dismiss each of these claims against it.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a court shall grant a motion to dismiss where the factual allegations of the complaint cannot support the asserted cause of action. Glover v. Liggett Group, Inc., 459 F.3d 1304, 1308 (11th Cir.2006) (per curiam). “Factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level ....” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). The allegations must give a defendant fair notice of the plaintiff's claims and the grounds upon which they rest. Id. Thus, a complaint must contain “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955 ).
A complaint must be liberally construed, assuming the facts alleged therein as true and drawing all reasonable inferences from those facts in the plaintiff's favor. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. A complaint should not be dismissed simply because the court is doubtful that the plaintiff will be able to prove all of the necessary factual allegations. Id. A well-pled complaint will survive a motion to dismiss “even if it appears that a recovery is very remote and unlikely.” Id. at 556, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (internal quotation marks omitted). Nevertheless, a plaintiff must provide “more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Id. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955.
WestJet first argues that the Adlers' negligence claim should be dismissed because it is preempted by the Air Carrier Access Act (“ACAA”), 49 U.S.C. § 41705. DE 15 at 3–4. The ACAA prohibits discrimination by air carriers based on disabilities. Shotz v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 420 F.3d 1332, 1336–37 (11th Cir.2005). Though the Adlers have phrased their negligence claim in common-law terms, they acknowledge that the ACAA may impact the applicable duty of care. DE 1 ¶ 26. WestJet contends that because Congress did not intend to create a private cause of action for ACAA violations, the Adlers may not assert a negligence claim implicating ACAA standards. The Court rejects WestJet's argument because although the ACAA may be relevant to WestJet's duty of care, the mere fact of its relevance does not convert the Adlers' negligence claim into a preempted claim to enforce the ACAA.
In its Motion, WestJet relies principally upon Love v. Delta Air Lines, 310 F.3d 1347 (11th Cir.2002), for the proposition that no private cause of action exists to enforce the ACAA. DE 15 at 3–4. In Love, the Eleventh Circuit rejected a suit by a disabled individual seeking a declaration that Delta had engaged in disability discrimination and an injunction requiring Delta to comply with the ACAA. 310 F.3d at 1350–51. The court held that “Congress did not intend to create a private right of action in a federal district court to vindicate the ACAA's prohibition against disability-based discrimination on the part of air carriers.” Id. at 1359.
The Adlers do not contest that a plaintiff cannot bring suit to enforce the ACAA. DE 21 at 4. Instead, the Adlers argue that they do not seek to enforce the ACAA, and that their claim is one for simple negligence under state law. Id. at 4–6. The Adlers argue that the ACAA therefore does not preempt their state-law claims, and is relevant only to the extent it impacts the applicable standard of care in this action. Id. at 5.
The Court agrees with the Adlers' position. The Eleventh Circuit has not directly addressed whether the ACAA preempts state-law negligence claims involving duties of care impacted by the ACAA. Still, numerous other courts conducting thorough preemption analyses have concluded that the ACAA, though it may not create a stand-alone cause of action for disability discrimination, does not preempt state-law negligence claims for injuries related to a failure to provide appropriate accommodations on airplanes. See, e.g., Gilstrap v. United Air Lines, Inc., 709 F.3d 995, 1010–11 (9th Cir.2013) ; Elassaad v. Independence Air, Inc., 613 F.3d 119, 132–34 (3d Cir.2010) ; Gill v. JetBlue Airways Corp., 836 F.Supp.2d 33, 45–47 (D.Mass.2011). The Court agrees with the conclusions of these other tribunals that the ACAA, which prohibits disability discrimination, does not categorically result in express, conflict, or field preemption with regard to state common-law remedies for injuries, distinct from discrimination, which a plaintiff suffered as a result of an air carrier's failure to provide appropriate accommodations.2
Moreover, in its Reply, WestJet does not directly respond to the Adlers' preemption arguments or the holdings of these various precedents regarding the viability of state-law claims premised on injuries apart from discrimination. Instead, WestJet merely reiterates that the ACAA did not create a private cause of action for disability discrimination. See DE 22 at 6–7. The Court thus determines that because the Adlers' state-law negligence claim is not a claim for disability discrimination, and instead rests upon personal injuries allegedly suffered as a result of WestJet's failures of care, WestJet has not demonstrated that the claim is preempted by the ACAA. See Gilstrap, 709 F.3d at 1010–11.3
WestJet next argues that the Adlers have failed to plead the necessary elements of their fraudulent misrepresentation claim. WestJet contends that the Adlers premise their fraudulent misrepresentation claim only on a...
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