In re Air Crash At Durango

359 F. Supp. 3d 1384

• Court: United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation
• Decided: February 7, 2019
• Docket: MDL No. 2877
• Status: Published

Opinion

SARAH S. VANCE, Chair

Before the Panel: Common defendant Aerovias de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Inc. (Aeromexico) moves under 28 U.S.C. § 1407 to centralize pretrial proceedings in this litigation in the Northern District of Illinois. The litigation consists of thirteen actions,¹ eleven in the Northern District of Illinois, one in the District of Oregon, and one in the Southern District of Texas, as listed on the attached Schedule A. The Panel has been notified of 23 additional federal actions, all in the Northern District of Illinois, which involve related issues.

Plaintiffs' positions on centralization vary. Plaintiffs in 29 of the Northern District of Illinois actions (eight constituent actions and 21 tag-alongs) support centralization. Plaintiffs in the District of Oregon and Southern District of Texas actions oppose centralization.

On the basis of the papers filed and the hearing session held, we conclude that centralization is not necessary for the convenience of the parties and witnesses or to further the just and efficient conduct of this litigation. All actions are personal injury cases arising from the July 31, 2018, crash of Aeromexico Flight AM2431 shortly after it took off from Durango, Mexico. But, the parties' briefing indicates that the litigation will involve little or no discovery involving liability or other common issues. For example, there is no indication that Aeromexico intends to implead Embraer, the aircraft's manufacturer, or any other third party. Rather, discovery and other pretrial matters appear likely to focus on plaintiff-specific matters - in particular, plaintiffs' alleged damages.

The limited number of involved districts also lessens the need, if any, for centralization. Aside from the one action in the District of Oregon and the one action in the Southern District of Texas, all actions are pending in the Northern District of Illinois. Given that the crash took place a number of months ago, and, reportedly, approximately half of the 103 individuals aboard the plane walked away from the crash and did not require hospitalization, we are skeptical of Aeromexico's prediction that "numerous" actions - beyond the 36 already pending - are yet to be filed. And, even if they are filed, they likely will involve the same individualized issues.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the motion for centralization of these actions is denied.

*1386SCHEDULE A

MDL No. 2877 - IN RE: AIR CRASH AT DURANGO, MEXICO, ON JULY 31, 2018

Northern District of Illinois

GARCIA v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., C.A. No. 1:18-05517

ESTRADA v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-05526

MERCADO v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-05534

JAQUEZ v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., D/B/A AEROMEXICO, ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-05535

ESTRADA v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., D/B/A AEROMEXICO, ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-05536

ESTRADA, ET AL. v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., C.A. No. 1:18-05540

DIAZ v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., C.A. No. 1:18-06051

RIVERA v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-06303

GALLARZO v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., C.A. No. 1:18-06709

RIVERA v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., D/B/A AEROMEXICO, ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-06852

SANCHEZ v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V., ET AL., C.A. No. 1:18-06945

District of Oregon

MCCORMICK, ET AL. v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO S.A. DE C.V., ET AL., C.A. No. 3:18-01628

Southern District of Texas

HERRERA, ET AL. v. AEROVIAS DE MEXICO, S.A. DE C.V. (INC.), ET AL., C.A. No. 4:18-03812

1 As filed, the Section 1407 motion encompassed 25 actions, but twelve of these were remanded to state court, and then re-removed as new civil actions. They thus are potential tag-along actions.