Jones v. Air Line Pilots Association, International

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMay 25, 2010
DocketCivil Action No. 2009-1075
StatusPublished

This text of Jones v. Air Line Pilots Association, International (Jones v. Air Line Pilots Association, International) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Jones v. Air Line Pilots Association, International, (D.D.C. 2010).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

JAMES M. JONES,

Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 09-1075 (JDB) AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL, et al.,

Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before 2007, pilots who had turned sixty were prohibited from flying commercial

airliners. In 2007, the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act ("FTEPA" or "the Act"), Pub.

L. No. 110-135, 121 Stat. 1450 (2007), raised the mandatory retirement age for commercial

airline pilots to sixty-five. FTEPA operates prospectively, however, and allows pilots who

turned sixty before its enactment to return to flying commercial airliners only under very limited

circumstances. James Jones, a former Continental Airlines pilot, challenges as unconstitutional

FTEPA's restrictions on pilots who turned sixty before the Act passed. He also brings claims

under federal and state anti-discrimination laws. For the reasons detailed below, the Court will

dismiss Jones's complaint.

BACKGROUND

In 1959, the Federal Aviation Administration enacted the so-called "Age 60" rule, which

prohibited pilots from flying commercial airliners past their sixtieth birthday. See 14 C.F.R. §

121.383(c). FTEPA abrogated the Age 60 rule, and allows pilots to fly commercial airliners until

-1- they turn sixty-five. See 49 U.S.C. § 44729(a), (d). The Act contains a "nonretroactivity"

provision, however, that significantly limits the ability of pilots who turned sixty before FTEPA's

passage (and who were thus forced to retire) to return to work. In general, such pilots may only

fly for commercial airlines if they are "newly hired by an air carrier as a pilot on or after

[FTEPA's] date of enactment without credit for prior seniority or prior longevity for benefits . . .

under any labor agreement or employment policies of the air carrier." Id. § 44729(e)(1)(B).1

Thus, pilots who turned sixty before December 13, 2007 -- the date of FTEPA's enactment -- may

fly commercial airliners only if they work without credit for their past experience. FTEPA also

contains a "protection for compliance" provision. This provision states that "[a]n action taken in

conformance with [FTEPA] . . . or taken prior to the date of enactment of [FTEPA] in

conformance with [the Age 60 rule], may not serve as a basis for liability or relief in a

proceeding, brought under any employment law or regulation, before any court or agency of the

United States or of any State or locality." Id. § 44729(e)(2).

Jones was a pilot for Continental Airlines between 1981 and 2007, until the Age 60 rule

forced him to retire several weeks before FTEPA was passed. Am. Compl. ¶¶ 27, 30. Because

Jones turned sixty before FTEPA's enactment, the Act permits him to work as a commercial

airline pilot only if he does not receive credit for his prior seniority. Jones contends that this

restriction, as well as FTEPA's protection for compliance provision, is unconstitutional. He also

argues that Continental Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association, International ("ALPA") --

the commercial airline pilots' collective bargaining representative -- violated federal and state

1 FTEPA also permits such pilots to fly for commercial airlines if they were "in the employment of that air carrier in such operations on [FTEPA's] date of enactment as a required flight deck crew member." Id. § 44729(e)(1)(A). This provision is not relevant here.

-2- employment laws by, inter alia, dismissing him upon his sixtieth birthday. Finally, Jones brings

a claim against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") under the Freedom

of Information Act ("FOIA"). The United States, ALPA, and Continental Airlines have each

filed motions to dismiss. And the United States has filed a motion for partial summary judgment

on Jones's FOIA claim.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

All that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require of a complaint is that it contain "'a

short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,' in order to

'give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.'" Bell

Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47

(1957)); accord Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 93 (2007) (per curiam). Although "detailed

factual allegations" are not necessary to withstand a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, to provide

the "grounds" of "entitle[ment] to relief," a plaintiff must furnish "more than labels and

conclusions" or "a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action." Twombly, 550 U.S.

at 555-56. "To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter,

accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S.

Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009) (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570); accord Atherton v. Dist. of

Columbia Office of the Mayor, 567 F.3d 672, 681 (D.C. Cir. 2009). A claim to relief is plausible

on its face "when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable

inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949. This

amounts to a "two-pronged approach," under which a court first identifies the factual allegations

entitled to an assumption of truth and then determines "whether they plausibly give rise to an

-3- entitlement to relief." Id. at 1950-51.

The notice pleading rules are not meant to impose a great burden on a plaintiff. See Dura

Pharms., Inc. v. Broudo, 544 U.S. 336, 347 (2005); see also Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534

U.S. 506, 512-13 (2002). When the sufficiency of a complaint is challenged by a motion to

dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the plaintiff's factual allegations must be presumed true and should

be liberally construed in his or her favor. See Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics &

Coordination Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 164 (1993); Phillips v. Bureau of Prisons, 591 F.2d 966, 968

(D.C. Cir. 1979). The plaintiff must be given every favorable inference that may be drawn from

the allegations of fact. See Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 (1974); Sparrow v. United Air

Lines, Inc., 216 F.3d 1111, 1113 (D.C. Cir. 2000). However, "the court need not accept

inferences drawn by plaintiffs if such inferences are unsupported by the facts set out in the

complaint." Kowal v. MCI Commc'ns Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C. Cir. 1994). Nor does the

court accept "a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation," or "naked assertions devoid of

further factual enhancement." Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949-50 (internal quotation marks omitted);

see also Aktieselskabet AF 21. November 2001 v. Fame Jeans Inc., 525 F.3d 8, 17 n.4 (D.C. Cir.

2008) (the D.C. Circuit has "never accepted legal conclusions cast in the form of factual

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