Bumped Airline Passengers Can Sue, High Court Agrees : Transportation: Justices refuse to hear appeal from Northwest Airlines. Montana lawyer had sought $60,000 after losing his seat on a flight.
In a setback for the airline industry, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed passengers who are involuntarily bumped from a scheduled flight to sue the carrier for damages.
Without comment, the justices refused to hear an appeal from Northwest Airlines, which claimed that 50,000 passengers a year now will be free to seek money in court.
Last year, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that federal law governing the airlines does not preempt such lawsuits.
Typically, when a flight is oversold, the carrier seeks volunteers who will accept free tickets in exchange for taking a later flight. But the federal rules also note: “The passenger may decline the payment and seek to recover damages in a court of law or in some other manner.”
William D. West, a Montana lawyer, chose to take the latter route. On Oct. 7, 1986, he arrived at the airport in Great Falls with a ticket and reserved seat on a flight to Washington. But overnight, Northwest Airlines had switched from a Boeing 727 to a smaller DC-9, with the result that the flight was badly overbooked.
Northwest offered West compensation and a seat on a later flight, but he chose to file a damage suit. He sought $10,000 in regular damages and $50,000 extra to punish the airline.
Since then, his case has been tied up in litigation while the courts have sought to resolve the question of whether such lawsuits are allowed.
Just two years ago, the high court cast doubt on any such damage suits involving the airlines. In the case of Morales vs. TWA, it rejected a move by state prosecutors to sue airlines for deceptive ads. In that decision, the justices suggested that the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 preempts any state interference in the airline business.
At that time, the justices also sent West’s case back to the 9th Circuit. But the appeals court reaffirmed its ruling and the case came back to the high court.
The court’s refusal to hear an appeal in the case (Northwest Airlines vs. West, 93-803) does not set a national precedent. However, the ruling becomes law within the 9th Circuit, which includes California. The action also clears West’s case for a trial to set damages.
More bad news may be in the offing for the airlines. Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court cleared the way for a damage suit by passengers irked about changes in the “frequent flier” program offered by American Airlines. The carrier has asked the high court to declare that such suits are preempted, but Monday’s action casts doubt on that appeal too.
In another action, the court refused to reopen lawsuits over Agent Orange, the Vietnam War-era defoliant (Ivy vs. Diamond Shamrock, 93-860). In 1984, a federal judge in New York created a $180-million fund to settle all claims, but some Texas plaintiffs sought to file a new suit on the grounds that their illnesses arose after 1984.
