United States Ninth Circuit

In the context of preemption, federal law generally establishes the applicable standards of care in the field of aviation safety. In appeals arising from negligence claims under California common law against various airlines for failing to warn about the danger of developing deep vein thrombosis and for providing an unsafe seating configuration on domestic flights, dismissal of the claims is affirmed in part and remanded in part where: 1) dismissal of the failure to warn claim was proper based on preemption by the FAA and relevant federal regulations; but 2) a remand was necessary on the seating configuration claim for development of the record regarding the effect of a reconfiguration on airline ticket prices.

Appellate Information

• Argued 04/16/2007
• Decided 10/04/2007
• Published 10/04/2007

Judges

• Before: MARY M. SCHROEDER, Chief Circuit Judge, STEPHEN S. TROTT, Circuit Judge, and BARRY TED MOSKOWITZ, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Randy Baker, Seattle, WA, and Brenda D. Posada, Sterns & Walker, Oakland, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• William J. Boyce, Houston, Texas, for the defendants-appellees., Clem C. Trischler, Pittsburgh, PA, for the defendants-appellees., Stephen C. Kenney and Samantha D. Hilton, San Francisco, CA, for the defendants-appellees.