Chuchinchow
6th Aug 2011, 15:30
An interesting case has just run its course through the US judicial system.
It seems that Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg’s class action lawsuit against Northwest-Delta Airlines is kosher, a federal appeals court has ruled.
After being bumped from Northwest Airline’s WorldPerks frequent-flier program two years ago, Ginsberg filed a class action lawsuit against the airline, now known as Northwest-Delta.
Ginsberg claimed Northwest revoked his membership arbitrarily because he "complained too frequently" [my italics] about the services.
U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed the case then, finding that the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) pre-empted the rabbi's claims.
Today, a panel of the 9th Circuit Appeals Court unanimously reversed that decision, warning the lower court that deregulation does not trump common law:
"When Congress passed the ADA, it dismantled a federal regulatory structure that had existed since 1958. By including a preemption clause, congress intended to ensure that the states would not undo the deregulation with regulation of their own. Congress's 'manifest purpose' was to make the airline industry more efficient by unleashing the market forces of competition - it was not to immunize the airline industry from liability for common law contract claims. Congress did not intend to convert airlines into quasi-government agencies, complete with sovereign immunity,” Judge Robert Beezer wrote.
The judgment can be found here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/08/05/09-56986.pdf
It would seem there is still hope for us all - at least in Judge Beezer's court!
It seems that Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg’s class action lawsuit against Northwest-Delta Airlines is kosher, a federal appeals court has ruled.
After being bumped from Northwest Airline’s WorldPerks frequent-flier program two years ago, Ginsberg filed a class action lawsuit against the airline, now known as Northwest-Delta.
Ginsberg claimed Northwest revoked his membership arbitrarily because he "complained too frequently" [my italics] about the services.
U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino dismissed the case then, finding that the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) pre-empted the rabbi's claims.
Today, a panel of the 9th Circuit Appeals Court unanimously reversed that decision, warning the lower court that deregulation does not trump common law:
"When Congress passed the ADA, it dismantled a federal regulatory structure that had existed since 1958. By including a preemption clause, congress intended to ensure that the states would not undo the deregulation with regulation of their own. Congress's 'manifest purpose' was to make the airline industry more efficient by unleashing the market forces of competition - it was not to immunize the airline industry from liability for common law contract claims. Congress did not intend to convert airlines into quasi-government agencies, complete with sovereign immunity,” Judge Robert Beezer wrote.
The judgment can be found here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/08/05/09-56986.pdf
It would seem there is still hope for us all - at least in Judge Beezer's court!