In re Air Crash at Lexington Ky, August 27, 2006, Civil Action (Master File) No. 5:06-CV-316-KSF.
| Decision Date | 03 January 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 5:07CV00322KSF.,No. 5:06CV00292KSF.,No. 5:07CV00316KSF.,No. 5:07CV00318KSF.,No. 5:07CV00400KSF.,No. 5:07CV00127KSF.,No. 5:07CV00015KSF.,No. 5:07CV00300KSF.,No. 5:07CV00323KSF.,No. 5:07CV00312KSF.,No. 5:07CV00320KSF.,No. 5:07CV00326KSF.,No. 5:07CV00321KSF.,No. 5:06CV00429KSF.,No. 5:07CV00315KSF.,No. 5:07CV00317KSF.,No. 5:06CV00385KSF.,No. 5:07CV00324KSF.,Civil Action (Master File) No. 5:06-CV-316-KSF.,No. 5:07CV00269KSF.,No. 5:07CV00124KSF.,No. 5:07CV00126KSF.,No. 5:07CV00319KSF.,5:07CV00312KSF.,5:07CV00015KSF.,5:07CV00300KSF.,5:07CV00315KSF.,5:07CV00126KSF.,5:07CV00316KSF.,5:07CV00317KSF.,5:07CV00318KSF.,5:07CV00319KSF.,5:06CV00292KSF.,5:07CV00320KSF.,5:07CV00321KSF.,5:07CV00400KSF.,5:07CV00124KSF.,5:07CV00322KSF.,5:07CV00323KSF.,5:07CV00324KSF.,5:06CV00429KSF.,5:07CV00269KSF.,5:07CV00326KSF.,5:06CV00385KSF.,5:07CV00127KSF. |
| Citation | 556 F.Supp.2d 665 |
| Parties | In re AIR CRASH AT LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, AUGUST 27, 2006. Relating to the following cases: Combs, et al. v. Comair, Inc. Cone, et al. v. Comair, Inc. Dawson, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Demrow, et al. v. Comair, Inc. (as to Plaintiffs, Theodore and Threet) Fahey v. Comair, et al. First Citizens Bank of Elizabethtown (N Kono) v. Comair, Inc., et al. First Citizens Bank of Elizabethtown (T. Kono) v. Comair, Inc., et al. Fortney, et al. v. Comair Inc. Frederick, et al. v. Comair, Inc. Harris, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Hebert, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Hooker et al. v. Comair, Inc. et al. Hunt v. Comair, Inc., et al. Mallory, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. McKee, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Moscoe, et al. v. Comair, Inc. Parsley, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Thomason, et al. v. Comair, Inc. Towles v. Comair, Inc. Trimble v. Comair, Inc., et al. Turner, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Washington, et al. v. Comair, Inc., et al. Winters Comair, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Kentucky |
David T. Royse, Perry M. Bentley, Robert M. Watt, III, Steven Brian Loy, Stoll Keenon Ogden, PLLC, Jerome Park Prather, William R. Garmer, Garmer & O'Brien, LLP, Phillip D. Scott, D. Craig Dance, David Andrew Owen, Greenebaum, Doll & McDonald, PLLC, Chad R. Wadlington, Wombles & Wadlington, William C. Rambicure, Rambicure & Miller, PSC, Albert B. McQueen, Jr., Wilson, Polites & McQueen, Peter Perlman, Peter Perlman Law Offices, Pamela Yvette Hourigan, Law Office of Yvette Hourigan, Douglas L. Hoots, Tyler Griffin Smith, Landrum & Shouse LLP, Bobby G. Wombles, Chad R. Wadlington, Wombles & Wadlington, Keith Moorman, Frost Brown Todd LLC, C. Timothy Cone, William W. Allen, Gess, Mattingly & Atchison, P.S.C., Lexington, KY, Gerard R. Lear, Speiser Krause, Arlington, VA, Howard W. Simcox, Jr., Karen L. Sussman, Sussman & Simcox, Gaithersburg, MD, Kenneth P. Nolan, Speiser, Krause, Nolan & Granito, Dorothea M. Capone, Douglas A. Latto, Michel F. Baumeister, Baumeister & Samuels, PC, Marc S. Moller, Kreindler & Kreindler, LLP, New York, NY, B. Keith Williams, Lannom & Williams, Lebanon, TN, T. Bradley Manson, T. Bradley Manson, PA, Overland
Park, KS, Rene B. Heinrich, Donovan Law, Cincinnati, OH, Tad Thomas, Scott P. Whonsetler, Whonsetler & Associates P.S.C., Larry B. Franklin, Franklin & Hance, P.S.C., Mark K. Gray, Matthew L. White, Gray & White, David B. Blandford, Robert L. Ackerson, Ackerson & Yann, PLLC, Charles M. Pritchett, Jr., Frost Brown Todd LLC, Louisville, KY, Colin H. Dunn, Kevin P. Durkin, Michael S. Krzak, Robert A. Clifford, Thomas K. Prindable, Clifford Law Offices, P.C., Corey O'Dell, Michael P. Connelly, Connelly Roberts & McGivney, Dennis T. Schoen, Chicago, IL, Peter J.E. Cronyn, Nelligan O'Brien Payne, Ottawa, ON, Samuel S. Rufer, Pemberton, Sorlie, Rufer & Kershner, Detroit Lakes, MN, Stephen F. Rufer, Pemberton, Sorlie, Rufer & Kershner, PLLP, Fergus Falls, MN, Don McCune, Marlon Kimpson, Mary Schiavo, Motley Rice, LLC, Mount Pleasant, SC, Ricardo M. Martinez, Steven Craig Marks, Podhurst Orseck Josefsberg, Miami, FL, Robert L. Parks, Law Offices Of Robert L. Parks, PL, Coral Gables, FL, Rhonda Hatfield-Jeffers, Richard Hay, William M. Thompson, Law Office of Richard Hay, Somerset, KY, John F. McCauley, Wayne C. Turner, McTurnan & Turner, Indianapolis, IN, Allen Sehulman, Jr., Canton, OH, Bruce A. Lampert, Richard F. Schaden, Schaden Katzman Lampert & McClune, Broomfield, CO, David I. Katzman, Schaden Katzman Lampert & McClune, Troy, MI, David L. Bohannon, Nora J. Shepherd, Sword, Floyd & Moody, PLLC, Walter G. Ecton, Jr., Ecton, Harhai & Shannon, PLLC, Richmond, KY, James N. Osteen, Jr., L. Kelly Davis, Osteen & Osteen, Hinesville, GA, Edward Z. Menkin, Syracuse, NY, H. Bruce Brandon, Larry I. Moore, III, Younce, Moore & Moseley, LLP, Greensboro, NC, for Plaintiffs.
Alan J. Brinkmeier, Linda J. Schneider, Michael J. Merlo, Merlo, Kanofsky, Brinkmeier & Gregg, Chicago, IL, Carol L. Thomson, Mark A. Pottinger, Treece, Alfrey, Musat & Bosworth, PC, Denver, CO, Dennis M. O'Hara, Jason A. Glusman, Robert C. Bauroth, Wicker, Smith, O'Hara, McCoy, Graham & Ford, P.A., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Douglas W. Rennie, Matthew Elton Stubbs, Montgomery, Rennie & Johnson, Cincinnati, OH, Ronald L. Green, Boehl, Stopher & Graves, LLP, Linsey W. West, Kara MacCartie Stewart, Woodward, Hobson & Fulton, LLP, Calvin R. Fulkerson, David A. Trevey, Lynn, Fulkerson, Nichols & Kinkel, P.L.L.C., Gregory K. Jenkins, Tonya S. Rager, Jenkins Robinson Epling & Smith, Lexington, KY, Kathryn L. Smith, Terence M. Healy, U.S. Department of Justice — Aviation & Admiralty Litigation, Arthur G. Sapper, Eric J. Conn, Robert C. Gombar, Sr., Sarah E. Hancur, McDermott, Will & Emery, LLP, Washington, DC, Richard M. Guarnieri, Samuel Ryan Newcomb, Johnson, True & Guarnieri, LLP, Frankfort, KY, Katherine L. Hilst, Richard C. Coyle, R. Keith Gerrard, Perkins Coie LLP, Seattle, WA, James R. Chadward Kessinger, Michael S. Maloney, Stephen Keller, Schiller, Osbourn, Barnes & Maloney, PLLC, Aaron J. Silletto, Charles H. Cassis, Hans M. Pfaffenberger, Jennifer Kaelin Luhrs, Goldberg & Simpson, P.S.C., Louisville, KY, for Defendants.
Edward H. Stopher, Richard W. Edwards, Boehl, Stopher & Graves, Louisville, KY, L. Richard Musat, Treece, Alfrey, Musat & Bosworth, PC, Denver, CO, William E. Johnson, Johnson, True & Guarnieri, LLP, Frankfort, KY.
This matter is before the Court on the motions of Comair, Inc., et al. ("Comair") [DE # 539] and Bombardier, Inc. ("Bombardier") [DE #736] pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) to dismiss claims by various Plaintiff's for loss of consortium, pre-impact fear, and hedonic and loss of enjoyment of life damages as a matter of law. Having been fully briefed, these motions are ripe for review.
Comair and Bombardier move to dismiss certain of Plaintiffs' damage claims on the ground that they are not authorized by Kentucky law.1 Plaintiffs generally respond that Kentucky law "is either unsettled or antiquated" [DE # 1073, p. 4], "is largely judge-made and is still expanding" [Id., p. 5], and that Kentucky courts would recognize such damage claims today. Many parallels are drawn between the current posture of Kentucky law on these issues and the prior posture of Kentucky law just before the Supreme Court of Kentucky changed the common law to bring it up to date with other jurisdictions and recognize new claims such as a child's claim for loss of consortium. [See, e.g., DE # 1190, pp. 4-7]. Accordingly, Plaintiffs ask this Court to predict that the Supreme Court of Kentucky would update the common law and recognize these damages claims if the facts were before that court today. Alternatively, Plaintiffs ask this Court to certify the law to the Supreme Court of Kentucky
Under the new standard for motions to dismiss, a complaint must plead "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atlantic Corp. Twomby, ___; U.S. ___, ___, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1974, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), abrogating Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). "All factual allegations are deemed true and any ambiguities must be resolved in plaintiffs favor." Persian Galleries, Inc. v. Transcontinental Ins. Co., 38 F.3d 253, 258 (6th Cir.1994). A district court weighing a motion to dismiss asks "not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims." Twombly, 127 S.Ct. at 1969 (quoting Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974)).
When interpreting or predicting state law, the Sixth Circuit urges caution. "Where a state's highest court has spoken to an issue, we are bound by that decision unless we are convinced that the high court would overrule it if confronted with facts similar to those before us." Ellis ex rel. Pendergrass v. Cleveland Mun. School Dist, 455 F.3d 690, 697 (6th Cir.2006). "We cannot allow a propensity to speculate as to yet unarticulated law to allow us to indulge our own predisposition." Id. In Goranson v. Kloeb, 308 F.2d 655 (6th Cir. 1962), the court said: Id. at 656-57.
To the extent a state law question is undecided, a federal court "must make `the best prediction, even in the absence of direct state precedent, of what the Kentucky Supreme Court would do if it were confronted with [the] question.'" Combs v. International Ins. Co., 354 F.3d 568, 577 (6th Cir.2004) (quoting Welsh v. United States, 844 F.2d 1239, 1245 (6th Cir. 1988)). "When given a choice between an interpretation of [state] law which reasonably restricts liability, and one which greatly expands liability, we should choose the narrower and more reasonable path." Id. (quoting Todd v. Societe Bic, S.A., 21 F.3d 1402, 1412 (7th Cir.1994)). Federal courts are in Id. at 578 (quoting ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Godawa v. Byrd
...p. 1. This type of claim is limited to "minor" children under the express language of KRS §411.135. See Combs v. Comair, Inc., 556 F. Supp. 2d 665, 673 (E.D. Ky. 2008). Summary judgment for the officer on this claim is therefore appropriate. The Court declines to exercise its supplemental j......
-
Radford v. Dva Renal Healthcare Inc. D/b/a Christian County Dialysis
...loss of parental consortium to emancipated adult children such as the appellants."); see also In re Air Crash at Lexington, Kentucky, August 27, 2006, 556 F. Supp. 2d 665, 674 (E.D. Ky. 2008). For these reasons, DVA's motion is appropriate.CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ......
-
Campbell v. Adult Daycare of Lexington, Inc., CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-155-JBC
...minority,' the Kentucky legislature excluded an award for loss of consortium to the parents of an 'adult' child." Combs v. Comair, Inc., 556 F.Supp.2d 665, 673 (E.D. Ky. 2008)(internal citations omitted). The case cited by the plaintiffs in opposition to this interpretation does not address......