Giannopoulos v. Iberia Lìneas Aèreas de España, S.A.

17 F. Supp. 3d 743, 2014 WL 551603
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 12, 2014
DocketNo. 11 C 775
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 17 F. Supp. 3d 743 (Giannopoulos v. Iberia Lìneas Aèreas de España, S.A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Giannopoulos v. Iberia Lìneas Aèreas de España, S.A., 17 F. Supp. 3d 743, 2014 WL 551603 (N.D. Ill. 2014).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion and Order

Thomas M. Durkin, United States District Judge

Plaintiffs are four individuals who purchased airline tickets for travel between the United States and Europe and for at least part of their trip traveled on aircraft operated by Iberia Líneas Aéreas de Es-paña (“Iberia”). See R. 156. Plaintiffs’ flights were delayed, and they bring a putative class action alleging breach of contract (Count I) and violation of a European Union regulation that requires compensation for airline delays under certain circumstances (Count II). Id. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c), Iberia moves for judgment on the pleadings on the claim that seeks relief for violation of the EU regulation (Count II).1 R. 170. For the following reasons, Iberia’s motion is granted.

Background

European Union Regulation No. 261/2004 (“EU 261”) requires airlines to compensate airline passengers for certain delayed and canceled flights departing from or arriving at airports in the European Union. See R. 156-1 (EU 261 Arts. 3, 5-7). The Preamble states:

Member States should ensure and supervise general compliance by their air carriers with this Regulation and designate an appropriate body to carry out such enforcement tasks. The supervision should not affect the rights of passengers and air carriers to seek legal redress from courts under procedures of national law.

Id. ¶ 22. Article 15 of the regulation also states:

the passenger shall ... be entitled to take the necessary proceedings before the competent courts or bodies.

Id. Art. 15(2). And Article 12 states that “[t]his Regulation shall apply without prejudice to a passenger’s rights to further compensation.” Id. Art. 12(1). Further, Article 16 provides:

(1) Each Member State shall designate a body responsible for the enforcement of this Regulation....
(2) Without prejudice to Article 12, each passenger may complain to any body designated under paragraph 1, or to any other competent body designated by a Member State.

Id. Art. 16(1), (2). In addition to modifying the word “law” in the Preamble, the word “national” is used in Article 14 to modify the phrase “designated body referred to in Article 16.” Id. Art. 14(2). [746]*746The regulation does not mention the United States or its courts.

Legal Standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) permits a party to move for judgment after the parties have filed the complaint and answer. Buchanan-Moore v. Cnty. of Milwaukee, 570 F.3d 824, 827 (7th Cir.2009). A Rule 12(c) motion is subject to the same standard as a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. See id. A Rule 12(b)(6) motion challenges the sufficiency of the complaint. See, e.g., Hallinan v. Fraternal Order of Police of Chi. Lodge No. 7, 570 F.3d 811, 820 (7th Cir.2009). A complaint must provide “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2), sufficient to provide defendant with “fair notice” of the claim and the basis for it. Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). This “standard demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). While “detailed factual allegations” are not required, “labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. The complaint must “contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955). “ ‘A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.’ ” Mann v. Vogel, 707 F.3d 872, 877 (7th Cir.2013) (quoting Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937). In applying this standard, the Court accepts all well-pleaded facts as true and draws all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party. Mann, 707 F.3d at 877.

Analysis

A. Private Right of Action in United States Courts

The fact that EU 261 is a foreign law does not prohibit the Court from enforcing it. Courts in the United States often have occasion to apply and enforce foreign law. Most commonly, this occurs when a court sitting in diversity addresses a “private law” claim such as a tort or contract claim.2 See, e.g., ISI Int’l, Inc. v. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, 316 F.3d 731, 732 (7th Cir.2003) (“The Canadian law of attorney-client relations is hardly such an alien body of doctrine that only a judge steeped in its tradition could fathom its tenets. Nor is a U.S. judge’s desire to avoid the burden of mastering a new legal subject an adequate reason to send litigants packing [to a Canadian court].”); Capital Markets Int’l, Ltd. v. Geldermann, 182 F.3d 921, 1999 WL 439405, at *4 (7th Cir. June 21, 1999) (“We agree with the district court that under Illinois’s choice of law rules, English law would govern these causes of action [for fraudulent misrepresentation].”); Spinozzi v. ITT Sheraton Corp., 174 F.3d 842, 843-48 (7th Cir.1999) [747]*747(applying Mexican tort law); Viera v. Eli Lilly and Co., 2010 WL 3893791, at *4-5 (S.D.Ind. Sept. 30, 2010) (Brazilian tort law). United States courts may also enforce foreign “public law.” See LaSala v. Bordier et Cie, 519 F.3d 121, 126 (3d Cir.2008) (applying Swiss securities fraud statute); Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Ltd. v. Walt Disney Co., 145 F.3d 481, 492 (2d Cir.1998) (instructing district court to apply copyright statutes of 18 foreign nations).

Nevertheless, for the Court to have the power to enforce EU 261, and for Plaintiffs to have a cause of action in the United States under EU 261, the legislative body that enacted the regulation — the European Commission — must have granted U.S. courts the power to enforce EU 261, or at least the European Commission must not have prohibited U.S. courts from doing so.

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17 F. Supp. 3d 743, 2014 WL 551603, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/giannopoulos-v-iberia-lineas-aereas-de-espana-sa-ilnd-2014.