Memphis personal injury attorney
> October 6th, 2008
State law personal injury claim by airline passenger is not preempted by federal statutes. Skidmore v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., - F. Supp. 2d _, No. CivA.399CV2958G, 2000 WL 1844675 (N.D. Tex. Dec. 15,2000). A U.S. district court held that federal aviation statutes do not preempt state common law in a case involving an airline passenger injured by a trash cart during a flight. The district court noted the existence of a circuit split with respect to whether federal law preempts this type of common law negligence claim. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that the Federal Aviation Act (FAA), 49 U.S.C. 40101 et seq., and the federal regulations promulgated under it supersede state law concerning the standard of care for personal injury claims such as the one offered here. The Fifth Circuit, however, has held that the FAA, as amended by the Airline Deregulation Act, 49 U.S.C. 1301 et seq., preempts state regulation of airline “services” but not aircraft “operation.” Because the trash collection cart that allegedly injured plaintiff is a device available aboard the plane to support the general purpose of navigation, this case falls squarely within the “operation” exception to federal preemption, the court said. The court also held that the state law standard of care should be applied here, given the long-settled principle that state law applies in diversity cases and defendants failure to supply any precedent from Texas or the Fifth Circuit that would indicate why that principle should not apply in this case.
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