Golden Holiday Tours v. Civil Aeronautics Board

531 F.2d 624, 174 U.S. App. D.C. 292, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 12596
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit·Decided March 3, 1976·No. No. 74-1962·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WILKEY.

WILKEY, Circuit Judge:

This action comes before the court on petition for review of a Civil Aeronautics Board rejection1 of an amendment to an Inclusive Tour Prospectus. Petitioners are the inclusive tour operator, Golden Holiday Tours, and the supplemental air carrier party to the amendment contracts, Overseas National Airways. The amendment, filed jointly by petitioners, would have made available approximately 179 seats on flights from Paris to Los Angeles on 1 and 2 September 1974. The initial letter of 7 August stated the subject matter of the amendment as the substitution of a 350-seat DC-10 for a 250-seat DC-8 on 1 September, and the addition of 79 seats on a split charter DC-8 on 2 September.2

The Board refused to accept the amendment for filing, however, on the ground that it was in violation of 14 C.F.R. § 378.-10(b),3 which postpones effectiveness of amendments for 15 days after filing. The Board concluded that because Golden Holiday had sold tour tickets utilizing the additional space prior to the lapse of 15 days, in fact prior to filing at all, it had committed a “serious transgression” of the regulations, justifying outright rejection of the filing.4 The space contracted for was thereby rendered unavailable to Golden Holiday, which was obliged to arrange for additional return transportation on regularly scheduled carriers for approximately 150 passengers, at great additional cost to itself5 and some alleged inconvenience to the passengers.

[294] Petitioners make no request for either damages6 or any sort of injunctive relief. Since the subject acts of this controversy are all in the past, no injunction could be framed to give relief from the alleged breach of discretion. Rather the remedy sought is in the nature of a declaration that the action taken was wrongful, in hopes that that will deter similar acts in the future. As an appeal of a CAB order, this appears to be an action over which we have jurisdiction under the Federal Aviation Act.7 However, in view of the nature of relief sought, a question arises whether the case is moot, and thus fails to satisfy the case or controversy prerequisite to federal jurisdiction.

Nothing this court can do now could provide any effective remedy for the particular injuries alleged. However, like all those in the inclusive tour business, petitioners have occasion to amend their tour prospectus on a regular and frequent basis. During the tour season culminating in the problem involved here, eighteen amendments to the Golden Holiday prospectus were submitted between 17 April and 2 August 1974.8 It is not implausible that petitioners will again run afoul of the Board’s construction of the rule postponing amendment effectiveness for 15 days after filing. Further, the essence of the alleged violation is the failure to file sufficiently in ádvance of any marketing or other activities relating to the affected flights. It follows that such controversies will commonly involve little time between the disputed filings and the scheduled flights to which they pertain, so that opportunity for full judicial review of the live issue will be chronically lacking. We therefore conclude that this case falls squarely within the mootness exception, enunciated by the Supreme Court, for controversies “capable of repetition, yet evading review.”9

The issue presented concerns the extent of Civil Aeronautics Board discretion to reject filings under § 378.10(b) of its regulations. That section sets forth the requirement of a 15 day waiting period between filing and effectiveness of amendments, and presupposes a power in the Board to reject filed amendments.10 The rule does not, however, set forth the conditions under which such rejection is appropriate.11 We are therefore left to infer appropriate limitations from the context and ostensible purposes of the rule.

One seemingly clearcut basis for rejecting a filing is the failure of the documents to meet the technical requirements set forth in 14 C.F.R. §§ 378.13-17. These provisions describe what the Prospectus must contain and, to some degree, determine the form that it should take. A prospectus, including any amendments thereto, which does not satisfy these basic requirements of content and form, is facially inadequate and subject to rejection on that basis. There is no assertion here, however, that the documents are inadequate on their face. If a proper power of rejection has been exercised in this case, it must reside in some more substantial regulatory purpose.

[295] The rule whose violation is the asserted basis for the Board’s action became effective on 19 July 1974,18 days before filing of the amendment at issue in this case. Previously the rule required filing of amendments no later than 5 days after the subject change had been made, thus allowing for implementation of changed plans without any prior scrutiny by the Board.12 The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking13 and the explanation accompanying the promulgation of the rule14 do not unambiguously set forth the purposes behind the rule change. However both documents do indicate that a primary aim of the new rule was to facilitate meaningful Board review of proposed changes, in order to protect travellers from inadequate provisions on their behalf.15 To a great extent, the Board apparently was striving to enhance its ability to protect travellers against incautious or unscrupulous tour operators.

If such protection for the travelling public is taken as the underlying rationale of the new rule, it is sensible to allow the Board to reject filings wherever such action appears, on balance, to serve that purpose. We conclude, however, that the decision to reject petitioners’ filing, and thus render unavailable return seating capacity set aside for 150 Americans in Europe, can not meet this test.

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Golden Holiday Tours v. Civil Aeronautics Board, 531 F.2d 624, 174 U.S. App. D.C. 292, 1976 U.S. App. LEXIS 12596 (D.C. Cir. 1976).

531 F.2d 624 (Golden Holiday Tours v. Civil Aeronautics Board) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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