McCubbins v. United Airlines, Inc.

244 F. Supp. 3d 557, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93418
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedMarch 22, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 3:16-cv-116 HTW
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 244 F. Supp. 3d 557 (McCubbins v. United Airlines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCubbins v. United Airlines, Inc., 244 F. Supp. 3d 557, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93418 (S.D. Miss. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER

HENRY T. WINGATE, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

Before this court are the following motions: 1) Plaintiffs “Motion to Remand” [docket no. 7]; 2) Plaintiffs “Supplement to Motion to Remand” [docket no.27]; and 3) Defendant’s “Motion to Dismiss or Alternative Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings,” [docket no. 5],

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The Plaintiff, Martin -H. McCubbins (hereafter McCubbins), planned a trip to Panama with a friend. He purchased his ticket from United Airlines, Inc. One day prior to his flight, McCubbins attempted to check in and obtain his boarding pass through the United Airlines, Inc. website. He was informed that because his was an international flight, he would have to come to the ticket counter in person in order for his passport to be inspected and verified. On February 13, 2013, the morning of his flight, McCubbins went to the check-in counter of the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Ev-ers International Airport, located near Jackson, Mississippi, as instructed.

McCubbins had a valid passport, but it was due to expire within six months. At the ticket counter a United Airlines, Inc. agent reviewed and verified his ticket and passport and issued him a boarding pass. McCubbins had to present his passport to United Airlines, Inc. agents several additional times over the course of the trip. None of these agents informed McCubbins of any problem with his passport.

When McCubbins arrived at the airport in Panama he proceeded to customs, where he was informed that he would not be allowed to enter the country. His passport was the problem he was told: it was going to expire in six months ■ or less, a fatal circumstance for international travel, Consequently, he was detained in the airport overnight in an isolated room with armed guards outside, no provisions for food and no accommodations for sleeping. The next morning, the Panamanian authorities placed him on a flight back to Jackson, Mississippi.

II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. McCubbins I

Prior to initiating the instant lawsuit, McCubbins filed a different suit against United Airlines Corporation (the incorrect corporate name for United Airlines, Inc.) in the First Judicial District of Hinds County Circuit Court, cause no. 25CI1:15-cv-025-WLK (hereafter “McCubbins I”). In that lawsuit, McCubbins sued United Airlines Corporation, alleging that the airline had failed to warn him that he would not be allowed into the country of Panama if his passport was due to expire within six months from the date of his flight. He accused the airline and certain of its employees, whose names were unknown at the time, of negligence, gross negligence and breach of contract under state law for failing to inform him of that fact. He did not plead any federal claims.

In that state court case, McCubbins obtained a default judgment against United Airlines Corporation. On February 2, 2016, United Airlines, Inc., (improperly named as United Airlines Corporation) removed that suit to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Missis[560]*560sippi, Civil Action No. 3:16-cv-072 DPJ-FKB. On that same date, United Airlines, Inc., filed a motion in the federal court case to have the default judgment set aside, on the basis that Plaintiff had incorrectly designated the airline’s corporate name in the complaint and summons.

The basis for removal, according to United Airlines, Inc., was federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.1 None of the parties claimed that federal jurisdiction was based on diversity of citizenship, because the amount in controversy was less than $75,000.2 United Airlines, Inc., contended that a federal question was created because the Montreal Convention3 and the Airline Deregulation Act4 (hereafter “ADA”) preempted Plaintiffs state law claims.

McCubbins filed a motion to remand the case to state court, alleging that no federal question was presented. Generally, under the “well-pleaded complaint rule,” a federal court does not have jurisdiction unless a federal question appears on the face of the Plaintiffs well-pleaded complaint. Elam v. Kansas City Southern Ry., 635 F.3d 796, 803 (5th Cir. 2011); Caterpillar, Inc. v Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 392, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987). Ordinarily, state law claims of negligence, gross negligence and breach of contract, such as Plaintiff asserted in McCubbins I, would not support original federal question jurisdiction; and as McCubbins pointed out, the complaint he filed made no reference to the Montreal Convention, the ADA, nor to any other federal or international laws or treaties on its face. [doc. no. 1-A].

An exception occurs, however, when a federal statute completely preempts a particular area such that any civil complaint raising this select group of claims is necessarily federal in character. Id. at 803. West v. Fina Oil & Chemical Co., 128 F.Supp.2d 396 (E.D. Tex. 2001) (a case is removable if the area of law has been completely preempted by federal law). Anderson v. Electronic Data Systems Corp., 11 F.3d 1311 (5th Cir. 1994) (complete-preemption doctrine allows defendant to remove case to federal court), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 808, 115 S.Ct. 55, 130 L.Ed.2d 14 (1994). If complete preemption exists, as United Airlines, Inc. claims, it authorizes removal to federal court even in circumstances where the complaint has been pleaded in a way that artfully avoids mention of any federal law claims. McKnight v. Dresser, Inc., 676 F.3d 426, 430 (5th Cir. 2012) (quoting [561]*561Johnson v. Baylor Univ., 214 F.3d 630, 632 (5th Cir. 2000)).

In McCubbins I, Federal District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III stated that the Fifth Circuit has held that the ADA does not provide complete preemption, citing Sam L. Majors Jewelers v. ABX, Inc., 117 F.3d 922, 925-26 (5th Cir. 1997). There, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stated, “[t]his [the ADA’s] preemption clause, standing alone, does not give rise to federal jurisdiction. Id. at 925. That Court went on to say, complete preemption occurs “only when Congress intends not merely to preempt a certain amount of state law, but also intends to transfer jurisdiction of the subject matter from state to federal courts.” Id. at 925. See Metropolitan Life, 481 U.S. at 65-66, 107 S.Ct. at 1547-48. Judge E. Grady Jolly, writing for the panel, concluded that Congress did not intend to completely preempt state law. Judge Jordan, writing for the federal district court, likewise concluded that McCubbins’ state law claims were not completely preempted by federal law.

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Related

United Airlines, Inc. v. Martin H. McCubbins
262 So. 3d 536 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
244 F. Supp. 3d 557, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccubbins-v-united-airlines-inc-mssd-2017.