Doe v. Delta Airlines, Inc.

Decision Date10 September 2015
Docket NumberNo. 13 Civ. 6287(PAE).,13 Civ. 6287(PAE).
Parties Jane DOE, Plaintiff, v. DELTA AIRLINES, INC., Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

Donald Alan Migliori, Motley Rice LLC, Providence, RI, James R. Brauchle, Motley Rice LLC, Mount Pleasant, SC, Rebecca M. Katz, Motley Rice LLC, New York, NY, for Plaintiff.

Louis Robert Martinez, Michael G. Maragoudakis, Richard Ritorto, Martinez & Ritorto, P.C., New York, NY, for Defendant.

OPINION & ORDER

PAUL A. ENGELMAYER, District Judge.

In this diversity action, plaintiff Jane Doe sues defendant Delta Airlines, Inc. ("Delta") for events that occurred during a flight delay, culminating in her arrest for public intoxication. Doe brings claims for battery, defamation, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and negligence. She seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Before the Court are competing motions for summary judgment. Delta moves against all of Doe's claims, claiming they are preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act, 49 U.S.C. § 41713(b)(1)("ADA") and the Federal Aviation Act, 49 U.S.C. § 44902("FAA"), and, in the alternative, that there is insufficient evidence to support these claims. Doe moves for summary judgment on her battery claim. For the reasons that follow, the Court grants Delta's motion to for summary judgment as to all claims except Doe's battery claim. As to that claim, the Court denies both parties' motions for summary judgment.

I. Background 1
A. Factual Background

On September 8, 2012, Doe had a ticket for a first-class seat on a Delta flight, scheduled to leave Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, for LaGuardia Airport in New York. Brauchle Aff., Ex. D ("Passenger Name Record"). The flight, scheduled to depart at 3 p.m., was operated by a Delta partner, Shuttle America Corp. Martinez Aff., Ex. E ("Hanson Dep."), at 7. At about 2:35 p.m., Doe boarded the plane from Gate 17, and sat in her assigned window seat. Brauchle Aff., Ex. C ("Doe Dep."), at 71. Due to bad weather, the flight was delayed. Id. at 72–73.

Doe and Delta dispute the ensuing events, highlighting different evidence adduced in discovery.

1. Delta's Account of the Facts

According to Delta, the flight attendants on duty noticed Doe crying as she boarded the plane. Martinez Aff., Ex. D ("Shuttle America Flight Attendant Report"), at 3. Jamie Hanson, the rear flight attendant, testified that she approached Doe, attempting to speak with her. Hanson Dep. 8. Hanson saw Doe rummaging through her purse and holding pill bottles in her hands. Id. at 8–9. Hanson also observed that Doe was attempting to conceal a clear Delta plastic cup, which contained brown liquid. Id. at 9.

During the delay, Tonyeka Williams, the lead flight attendant responsible for the first-class cabin, saw Doe take a pill. Martinez Aff., Ex. F ("Williams Dep."), at 19–20. According to Williams, Doe, after taking the pill, began to ask the flight attendants the same questions repeatedly and appeared disoriented, to the point that the flight attendants became concerned about her behavior. Id. at 20–22.

The crew eventually informed the flight's passengers that the flight would be further delayed; passengers were given the option to stay aboard the plane or to deplane and wait in the terminal. Id. at 28. Williams then saw Doe take another pill; she and Hanson informed Bart Moseley, the flight's captain, of their observations about her. Id. at 28–29. According to Williams, Moseley instructed the flight attendants to monitor Doe. Id. at 29.

Because of the weather delay, all passengers and the flight crew disembarked the plane. Id. at 30, 32. Doe testified that she then went to the Tidewater Landing restaurant, located in the terminal. Doe Dep. 76. Doe's receipt reflects that the restaurant opened her check at 5:44 p.m., and that she ordered four glasses of wine (all Chardonnay). Martinez Aff., Ex. I ("MacCracken Dep."), at 43–45, 48; Martinez Aff., Ex. J ("Doe's Tidewater Landing Receipt"). Bob MacCracken, the restaurant's manager, testified that servers at Tidewater Landing are instructed to pour at least six ounces of wine per glass, but usually pour more than that amount. MacCracken Dep. 45. Doe also ordered an appetizer of brie cheese, topped with raspberry sauce, which came with apples and a baguette. MacCracken Dep. 44; Doe's Tidewater Landing Receipt. Doe's check was closed out at 7:08 p.m. Doe's Tidewater Landing Receipt; MacCracken Dep. 48.

During the delay, Doe testified, she went to the boarding gate several times to ask whether she would retain her first-class seat assignment on the next flight to New York. Doe Dep. 82. Darren Miller, a Delta operations floor manager or "Red Coat," testified that some 30 to 45 minutes after the passengers deplaned, he told Doe that the gate for her flight had changed to Gate 15. Martinez Aff, Ex. N ("Miller Dep."), at 37. Miller later approached Gate 15 and observed the following of Doe:

As I arrived, again, she was pounding on the desk and she was ... pretty loud talking to the agent and saying I need to be on this flight, I need to be on this flight, you're going to put me on this flight. And I do recall the agent saying ma'am, if you don't ... calm down the police has to be called. We need you to calm down so we can get this resolved. And at that point she said call whoever you need to call, but y'all are going to put me on this flight and I'm an attorney and I will make you—you know, make this worse than what it is. And at that point, again, that's when the police showed up, so that's as much as I heard then.

Id. at 99.

A Delta gate agent, Virginia McLeod, testified about her interaction with Doe at the Gate 15 podium:

DOE'S COUNSEL: And with that first interaction with her ... what observations, if any, did you make about her behavior?
MCLEOD: She was visually upset. She seemed a little off to me. She seemed to be slurring her words a little. That was it.
DOE'S COUNSEL: Okay. And when you say she was ... visually upset, can you describe what you mean by "visually upset"?
MCLEOD: She looked angry. She had a scowled face.
DOE'S COUNSEL: All right. And you mentioned that she seemed a little off. Can you describe what you mean by that?
MCLEOD: She—due to the slurring of her words, she just didn't seem—she just seemed off. She seemed that—not as rational as someone who would be in their good state of mind.

Martinez Aff., Ex. L ("McLeod Dep."), at 25–26. McLeod further testified that when Doe asked her whether she would retain her first-class priority ticket on the next flight, McLeod told her that she would not. Id. at 27–28. McLeod observed that Doe was visibly angry, but after this encounter, she walked away. Id. at 27–28.

Hanson, the rear flight attendant, also saw Doe at the gate. Hanson Dep. 17. Hanson testified that Doe was aggressive, slurring her speech, and yelling at the Delta representatives working at the gate. Id. at 17–19. As Hanson described Doe's conduct, Doe "set the bar" for unruly behavior by a passenger. Id. at 18. Hanson reported Doe's conduct to Moseley, the flight's captain. Id. at 22–23. Moseley ordered the Delta gate agents to deny Doe boarding. Moseley Dep. 16.

Eventually, two police officers from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police ("MWAAP") approached Doe at Gate 15. Martinez Aff., Ex. P ("Anderson Dep."), at 26. Officer Michael J. Anderson, the eventual arresting officer, testified that at around 7 p.m., the MWAAP dispatch center directed him to respond to Gate 15. Id. at 23–24. When he approached the gate, he saw Doe arguing with a Delta gate agent; Doe's demeanor did not change when he and Officer Tanika Brown intervened. Id. at 13–15, 26–28. Officer Anderson testified that his attention was drawn to Doe because of her loud voice. Id. at 31. He added that Doe was:

unsteady on her feet, kind of using the desk as support. When she stood by herself, she was a little bit swayed. When I introduced myself and she was talking over me, she smelled of an alcoholic beverage emanating from her person. She had slurred speech.

Id. at 31–32. Officer Anderson also testified that:

[w]hen she wouldn't respond to me at all and she was still going about her conversation or how upset she was, I made the decision that she is unable to take care of herself in that time, so I placed her under arrest and told her she was under arrest for [being] drunk in public.

Id. at 37. As to the arrest, Officer Anderson attested that it was his decision to arrest Doe. That decision, he testified, was "wholly independent of anyone else and based upon [his] authority." Id. at 40.

Miller, the Delta operations floor manager, made similar observations of Doe at that time:

At that point I do recall [her] saying ... that she was an attorney to the police, she was real loud with the police as well. Her tone did not change at all when the police arrived. She was ... still loud, she was real aggressive. I do recall it was two officers there, one was a Caucasian male and one was an African–American female. And as they approached her—the African–American female actually approached her first. And as she was talking to [Doe], [Doe] was still being loud and boisterous to her and very disrespectful to her, and she told her not to touch her. And at that point that's when I saw the Caucasian male officer then interact. And then, again, I turned away at that point because I was called on the radio. And by the time I came ... back to see what the situation was ... she was handcuffed at the point and the Caucasian male officer was escorting her with the handcuffs at that point.

Miller Dep. 100–101. Miller further testified that the flight had finished boarding at the time the police interacted with Doe. Id. at 103.

After the arrest, Officer Anderson presented Doe to a magistrate of the Arlington County Criminal Court, who found probable cause for the arrest. Anderson Dep. 83; Martinez Aff, Ex. Q ("Doe's Arrest Warrant").

2. Doe's Account of the Facts

Doe testified that...

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