United States Third Circuit
Elassaad v. Independence Air, Inc., 08-3878
In plaintiff's suit against an airline for injuries sustained when he fell while disembarking from an airplane at the Philadelphia International Airport, district court's grant of defendant's motion for summary judgment on the negligence claim is reversed and remanded where: 1) the holding in Abdullah v. American Airlines, Inc., 181 F.3d 363 (3d Cir. 1999), that the Aviation Act preempts "the entire field of aviation safety" from state regulation, does not control this case as the "field of aviation safety" does not include a flight crew's oversight of the disembarkation of passengers once a plane has come to a complete stop at its destination; 2) the Aviation Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder do not preempt state tort law with respect to such negligence claims; 3) the federally enacted Air Carrier Access Act and its implementing regulations do not control the standard of care from the standpoint of airline safety; and 4) the standard of care in plaintiff's negligence claim is not preempted by federal law.
Appellate Information
- Argued 01/28/2010
- Decided 07/06/2010
- Published 07/06/2010
Judges
Court
- United States Third Circuit
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- Eugene F. Jarrell, Jonathan M. Stern