Following up on our item of last May 12: the Eighth Circuit federal court of appeals ruled last year that the safety rating group ARGUS (Aviation Research Group) had not defamed Aviation Charter Inc. in 2001 by assigning the charter operator its lowest safety rating, “DNQ” or “Does Not Qualify”. Aviation Charter Inc. operated the plane whose crash a year later, in 2002, killed Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and seven others. The Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision to dismiss the suit, saying ARGUS’s comparative ratings involved subjective interpretations of data and were not “sufficiently factual to be susceptible of being proved true or false”. So for now, at least, it seems that if you want to rate air carriers’ safety, go ahead and rate away. (“Court decisions: Air carrier’s poor safety rating isn’t defamatory”, National Law Journal, Aug. 1, 2005, not online).
Posts Tagged ‘aviation’
Legal hazards of rating air safety
From a Forbes article on safety problems in charter aviation:
Businesses pay [Joseph Moeggenberg’s] company, Aviation Research Group/U.S., or “Argus” in the trade, as much as $20,000 per month for full access to ratings reports on 848 charters, or $249 for a single report. Argus provides specifics about a flight, the jet’s history, the owner, whether the plane is double-booked from another charter, the pilot’s record and so on. It assigns a red, yellow or green light on safety (36% receive reds or yellows).
One charter outfit got a prescient “Does Not Qualify” rating from Argus: Aviation Charter of Eden Prairie, Minn., which flew U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota in a Beechcraft King Air A100 as he campaigned for reelection in October 2002. When a newspaper later reported that Aviation Charter got a bad rating, the company sued Argus for defamation but lost the case on summary judgment; the case is pending on appeal. The flight crashed at the Eveleth, Minn. airport in October 2002, killing all eight people aboard, including the senator, his wife and their adult daughter. Says Argus attorney Eric Heiberg of Minneapolis: “I can’t imagine we’re going to lose.”
(Seth Lubove, “Flight of Fear”, Forbes, May 9). An online summary of the case (Aug. 2004, courtesy Cousineau McGuire & Anderson; scroll to “Federal Courts — Defamation”) indicates that the court agreed that the rating contained inaccuracies which harmed Aviation Charter’s reputation, but found no proof that Argus had acted with malice or reckless disregard for the truth. Update Mar. 15, 2006: Eighth Circuit (in summer 2005) dismissed suit, ruling ratings subjective.
Business jets
“The stock market is not eager to fund this capital-intensive, risk-burdened, lawyer-strafed industry. … 40 years of lawsuits and heavy-handed regulation have made the bizjet industry hyperconservative.” (Rich Karlgaard, “Digital Rules: Cheap Jet Update”, Forbes, Jan. 10).
Target: general aviation services
Ten years ago, in one of the few significant liability reforms to emerge from Washington, D.C. in modern times, Congress provided litigation relief to small-aircraft makers, most notably by cutting off lawsuits filed more than 18 years after an aircraft was sold. As was widely reported, general aviation thereafter enjoyed a substantial recovery from its previous slump, with significant numbers of planes again being manufactured and sold. But trial lawyers, casting around for parties to sue after crashes, simply began naming everyone else in sight: flight instructors, “mechanics, manufacturers of replacement parts, fuel suppliers and airports. Aviation is again in decline.” Frasca Field in the college community of Champaign-Urbana, Ill. has “shut down its flight training, recurrent training and mechanics’ services a year ago because of skyrocketing insurance costs brought on by a lawsuit in which the field itself was found not guilty.
“The case stemmed from the 1996 death of a man who was a passenger in a Piper J-3 Cub that crashed in a cornfield near Thomasboro. Federal Aviation Administrators inspectors found no mechanical problems. The National Transportation Safety Board said the accident was caused by pilot error. Frasca Air Services Owner Rudy Frasca said the final legal defense price tag was about $600,000. ‘We won the case, but we lost the field,’ said Tom Frasca.” Much more here (J. Philip Bloomer, “Liability costs ground Frasca”, Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette, Jun. 20).
Economic Report of the President
This year’s Economic Report of the President, just published, includes a chapter (large PDF, look for chapter 11) on the economic impact of the U.S. tort system, its growth, the mixed evidence on its success in hazard-reduction, and its impact on particular fields such as medicine and light aviation (via Alex Tabarrok).
Archived aviation items, pre-July 2003
“NTSB blames pilot error, but airport told to pay $10 million“, May 14, 2003.
Security profiling, 2002: “Rather die than commit profiling, cont’d“, Oct. 14; “Profiling: a Democrat outflanks Ashcroft” (Sen. Feinstein), Jun. 10; “Airlines sued over alleged profiling“, Jun. 6; “The scandal of the Phoenix memo“, May 28-29; “Fearing ethnic profiling charges, bureau ignored flight-school warning“, May 6; “Columnist-fest” (Charles Krauthammer), Mar. 18; “Profiling: the cost of sparing feelings“, Jan. 14-15. 2001: “Profiling perfectly OK after all“, Nov. 16-18; “‘Politically incorrect profiling: a matter of life or death’” (Stuart Taylor, Jr.), Nov. 9-11; “Opponents of profiling, still in the driver’s seat“, Nov. 2-4; “Anti-bias law not a suicide pact“, Oct. 3-4.
“‘Sisters suing Southwest over “racist rhyme”‘“, Feb. 11, 2003.
Forum-shopping: “Mass disasters belong in federal court“, Dec. 18-19, 2002; “Crash lawyers like Boeing move” (Chicago, new HQ city, has higher verdicts), May 17, 2001; “Come to America and sue” (Concorde forum-shopping), Jan. 19-21, 2001; “French crash, German victims, American payout levels?“, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, 2000.
“Lawyer’s suit against airline: my seatmate was too fat“, Aug. 2-4, 2002; “‘Sorry, Slimbo, you’re in my seats’“, June 7, 2001 (& updates Dec. 15-16, 2001, Oct. 25-27, 2002); “Obese fliers“, Dec. 20, 2000.
“Annals of zero tolerance: ‘No scissors allowed at ribbon-cutting ceremony at Pittsburgh airport’“, Sept. 23, 2002.
“‘Airline sued for $5 million over lost cat’“, Sept. 3-4, 2002.
“Flowers, perfume in airline cabins not OK?” (Canada), May 17-19, 2002.
World Trade Center, 2002: “Roger Parloff on 9/11 fund“, Apr. 1-2. 2001: “Liability limits speed WTC recovery“, Nov. 21-22; “‘Company tried to capitalize on Sept. 11’“, Oct. 15; “‘Despite Protection, Airlines Face Lawsuits for Millions in Damages’“, Sept. 24 (& Oct. 10-11); “‘Lawsuits From Attacks Likely to Be in the Billions’“, Sept. 21-23; “Washington Post on airline liability“, Sept. 19-20; “What you knew was coming“, Sept. 14-16 (& coverage generally after Sept. 11).
“Couldn’t order 7-Up in French” (suing Air Canada for $525,000), Mar. 18, 2002.
“Disclaimer rage?” (GPS software), Oct. 15, 2001.
“‘Man Thought He Was Dead, Sues Airline’” (left sleeping in darkened cabin), Oct. 10-11, 2001.
“‘Poor work tolerated, employees say’“, Nov. 15, 2001; “The high cost of cultural passivity“, Sept. 21-23; “Self-defense for flight crews“, Sept. 13; “Transsexual passenger’s airline hassle“, Sept. 12, 2001.
White-knuckle lotto: “‘Delta passenger wins $1.25 mln for landing trauma’“, Aug. 24-26, 2001; “All shook up” (jury says emotional scars from Little Rock crash worth $6.5 million), Oct. 19, 2000; “White-knuckle lotto“, Oct. 8, 1999.
Letter to the editor, Sept. 3, 2001 (ABC vs. Parker-Hannifin); “Big numbers” (Teledyne Continental Motors $27 million settlement), April 16, 2001; “Getting around small-aircraft lawsuit reform“, Jan. 29, 2001.
“‘Airline restricts children flying alone’“, Aug. 6, 2001.
“‘Lawyers pay price for cruel hoaxes’“, Aug. 3, 2001; “‘The love children of Flight 261’“, April 10, 2001; “After an air crash, many Latin ‘survivors’” (Alaska Air claimants), Nov. 29, 2000.
“Needed: assumption of risk” (first-time skydiver), July 27-29, 2001; “‘Skydivers don’t sue’“, May 26, 2000 (update July 6: Canadian diver prevails in suit against teammate) (& see Apr. 16, 2001).
“Getting around small-aircraft lawsuit reform“, Jan. 29, 2001.
“‘Economy-class syndrome’ class action” (Australia), Dec. 13-14, 2000.
“All shook up” (jury says emotional scars from Little Rock crash worth $6.5 million), Oct. 18, 2000; “Diva awarded $11M for broken dream” (opera student injured in runway crash), Aug. 31, 2000.
“John Denver crash” (also Air France, Northwest, aviation need for tort reform), Oct. 4, 2000.
“Prosecution fears slow crash probes“, Sept. 6-7, 2000.
“Retroactive crash liability” (Death on the High Seas Act), Aug. 25-27, 2000.
“Class actions: are we all litigants yet?” (American Airlines frequent flier class action), Aug. 23-24, 2000.
“Never too stale a claim” (suits against manufacturers over planes built in early 20th century), July 14-16, 2000.
“New subpage” (this page introduced), June 16-18, 2000.
“Somebody to sue” (map publisher Jeppesen Sanderson sued after Croatia crash), June 1, 2000.
“Swissair crash aftermath” (Peggy’s Cove disaster in U.S. courts), March 14, 2000; “Montreal Gazette ‘Lawsuit of the Year’” (bagpipers sue Swissair for lost income), Jan. 17, 2000.
“Blaming good pilots” (Alaska Air crash), Feb. 24, 2000.
“New safety rule likely to increase death toll” (FAA and child seating on airlines), Dec. 31, 1999-Jan. 2, 2000.
“Attorney blames airline for passenger’s drunken in-flight rage“, Dec. 9, 1999.
“Indications of turbulence” (pilot whose mental fitness for duty was challenged wins partial back pay), Dec. 1, 1999.
“Some lawyers try to make nice” (EgyptAir 990), Nov. 29, 1999.
“From the planet Litigation” (UFO suits), Nov. 22, 1999.
“Grounds for suspicion” (DEA and arriving passengers), Oct. 9-10, 1999.
“Overlawyered skies not always safer“, July 19, 1999.
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Other resources: AVweb includes articles by its law columnist, Phillip J. Kolczynski, on such topics as product liability, liability for homebuilt aircraft, and aircraft owner liability. Walter Olson, “Kingdom of the One-Eyed” (pilot vision and ADA), Reason, July 1998. Walter Olson, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Good Beer” (alcoholic pilot and ADA), Washington Monthly, September 1997. |