Lawal v. British Airways, PLC

• Decision Date: 24 November 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. H-91-0082.
• Parties: Babatunde LAWAL v. BRITISH AIRWAYS, PLC, Fast Travel, Inc., Jaweed Mohammed, Universal Postal and Travel Services MA Memon.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

812 F. Supp. 713

Babatunde LAWAL v. BRITISH AIRWAYS, PLC, Fast Travel, Inc., Jaweed Mohammed, Universal Postal and Travel Services MA Memon.

Civ. A. No. H-91-0082.

United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division.

November 24, 1992.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Michael Anthony Maness, Houston, TX, for plaintiff Babatunde Lawal.

David Wilks Corban, Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston, TX, for defendant British Airways, PLC.

George W. Dana, Houston, TX, for defendants Fast Travel, Inc., Jaweed Mohammed, Universal Postal & Travel Services and M.A. Memon.

MEMORANDUM

HARMON, District Judge.

Plaintiff Babatunde Lawal brings this action against Defendants British Airways PLC, Fast Travel, Inc., Jaweed Mohammed, Universal Postal & Travel Services, and M.A. Memon, for alleged violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and monetary damages, attorney fees, costs and interest. Pending before the court is the Motion for Remand (Instrument # 11) filed by the plaintiff. Also pending before the Court is the Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative, for Judgment on the Pleadings (Instrument # 9) filed by Defendant British Airways. After considering the motions, the responses, the replies, the supplemental responses, and the applicable law, this Court is of the opinion that Plaintiff's motion to remand should be denied and that Defendant's motion to dismiss should be granted.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

A. Procedural History

Plaintiff initiated this action on December 5, 1990, in the 129th District Court of Harris County, Texas, Cause No. 90-64163. British Airways received notice of the action on December 24, 1990, and timely removed the action to this court on January 11, 1991. Plaintiff did not seek to remand for defects in removal procedure within thirty days of removal. Rather, Plaintiff moved to remand for lack of subject matter jurisdiction nearly a year later, on November 26, 1991.

On January 8, 1992, a default judgment was entered against defendants Fast Travel, Inc. and Jaweed Mohammed. The remaining defendants to this action are British Airways PLC ("British Airways"), Universal Postal & Travel Services, and M.A. Memon ("Memon").

B. Factual History

On December 5, 1988, Babatunde Lawal paid $1,210.00 in cash for a round-trip airline ticket from Houston, Texas to Lagos, Nigeria. Plaintiff's Original Complaint at 2. He purchased his ticket from defendants Universal Postal & Travel Services and Memon, who were acting as authorized agents for British Airways. On December 19, 1988, Plaintiff used his ticket to fly from Houston Intercontinental Airport to Gatwick Airport in London, England, en route to Lagos Nigeria. He arrived at Gatwick uneventfully.

When Plaintiff attempted to board the flight from London to Lagos on December 20, 1988, he was allegedly detained and assaulted by British Airways security personnel who claimed that Plaintiff was using a stolen ticket. Plaintiff's Original Complaint at p. 3. Plaintiff contends that he was later permitted, under threat of arrest if he refused, to purchase another ticket for his Houston-Lagos round-trip at an additional cost of $4,380.00. Upon his return to Houston, Plaintiff demanded compensation and reimbursement from all defendants for the alleged humiliation and embarrassment this incident caused him. Universal refunded Plaintiff's cash payment of $1,200.00 for the original ticket, refusing all other demands. The remaining defendants refused to make any restitution at all. Plaintiff's Original Complaint at p. 3.

Plaintiff sued Defendants on varying causes of action, as agents of each other and individually. Plaintiff seeks to recover under the theories of common law fraud, negligence, and gross negligence for the following reasons: (1) Defendants' collective failure to maintain adequate records of and control over the ticket stock, or means of validating tickets; (2) Defendants' collective sale of tickets they knew or should have known would be dishonored; (3) falsely representing to Plaintiff that the tickets were stolen; and (4) wrongfully, falsely and illegally detaining Plaintiff and threatening him with arrest unless he purchased new tickets.

Plaintiff seeks to hold British Airways, a foreign air carrier, individually liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and emotional injury caused him as actual and proximate consequences of the harm alleged above. He maintains that these wrongs entitle him to actual and punitive damages in excess of the minimum jurisdictional limits of this Court, with interest, attorneys' fees, court costs, and any other available relief. Plaintiff's Original Complaint at p. 5.

British Airways now moves to dismiss the action brought against it as it argues that all of Plaintiff's claims are preempted under the Airline Deregulation Act ("ADA") in that they relate to routes, rates, and services. In order to evade the preemptive sweep of the ADA plaintiff argues that this action should be remanded for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

1. Remand for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

When deciding a question of subject matter jurisdiction the Court construes the complaint broadly and liberally, although argumentative inferences favorable to the pleader will not be drawn. Gaubert v. U.S., 885 F.2d 1284, 1285 (5th Cir.1989), rev'd on other grounds, ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 1267, 113 L.Ed.2d 335 (1991) (under Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 12(b)(1)); Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(f)). The Court will also accept as true all uncontroverted factual allegations of the pleadings. Id. at 1285 (citing Gibbs v. Buck, 307 U.S. 66, 59 S.Ct. 725, 83 L.Ed. 1111 (1939)).

The Fifth Circuit has held that a court may dismiss an action on jurisdictional grounds if factual issues relevant to jurisdiction and those relevant to the merits can be analyzed discretely. MCG, Inc., v. Great Western Energy Corp., 896 F.2d 170, 176 n. 6 (5th Cir.1990) (citing McLain v. Real Estate Bd. of New Orleans, Inc., 583 F.2d 1315 (5th Cir.1978), vacated on other grounds, 444 U.S. 232, 100 S.Ct. 502, 62 L.Ed.2d 441 (1980)). Subject matter determinations, unlike typical motions to dismiss, may be made using any one of the following bases: "`(1) the complaint alone; (2) the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts evidenced in the record; or (3) the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts plus the court's resolution of disputed facts.'" Barrett Computer Services, Inc. v. PDA, Inc., 884 F.2d 214, 220 (5th Cir. 1989) (quoting Williamson v. Tucker, 645 F.2d 404, 413 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 897, 102 S.Ct. 396, 70 L.Ed.2d 212 (1981)); see Giannakos v. M/V Bravo Trader, 762 F.2d 1295, 1298 (5th Cir.1985) (universal standard to assess subject matter jurisdiction conflicts). This Court has a great deal of discretion to decide jurisdictional matters; using the standard set forth above this Court need not give deference to the nonmovant on fact considerations.

2. Motions to Dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6)

Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) provides that a motion to "dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted" may be proffered to dismiss a claim. When a district court reviews the sufficiency of a complaint, before it receives any evidence either by affidavit or admission, its task is inevitably a limited one. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). The issue is not whether a plaintiff will ultimately prevail, but whether the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims. Id. In considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the District Court should construe the allegations in the complaint favorably to the pleader and accept as true all well-pleaded facts in the complaint. LaPorte Constr. Co. v. Bayshore Nat'l Bank, 805 F.2d 1254, 1255 (5th Cir.1986); Windor v. The Tennessean, 719 F.2d 155, 158 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 826, 105 S.Ct. 105, 83 L.Ed.2d 50 (1984). Dismissal of a claim is improper "unless it appears beyond a doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 10, 101 S.Ct. 173, 176, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980); Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Sales, Inc. v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 677 F.2d 1045, 1050 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1105, 103 S.Ct. 729, 74 L.Ed.2d 953 (1984).

Therefore, in challenging the sufficiency of the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), the defendants bear the burden of proving that under no interpretation of the facts set forth in the complaint can the plaintiffs succeed. Conley, 355 U.S. at 45-46, 78 S.Ct. at 101-102.

B. The Applicable Law

It is axiomatic that the same variable is dispositive of both issues presented. That variable is preemption. Should the plaintiff establish that the Airline Deregulation Act ("ADA") is not applicable not only would that determination necessitate a remand, but it would also demonstrate the meritlessness of British Airways' motion to dismiss. Conversely, if the defendants establish that plaintiff's claims are preempted, then they have also established this Court's jurisdiction over the matter.

At first blush it seems that the issues presented are fairly straightforward, but, plaintiff has succeeded through zealous advocacy of his claims in complicating the issues with untenable legal arguments suggesting, in some instances, that this court ignore precedent or interpret the law outside its plain meaning.

This Court must now consider (1) whether British Airways, as a foreign air carrier, is covered by the preemption provisions of the ADA; if that question is answered affirmatively, (2) whether this court has jurisdiction over this action, and, finally, (3) whether the ADA preempts plaintiff's state law claims.

1. The ADA, Preemption and the Foreign Air...