Oto v. Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc.

247 F. Supp. 3d 1098, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165504
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMarch 27, 2017
DocketNo. CV-16-01027-PHX-DJH
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 247 F. Supp. 3d 1098 (Oto v. Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oto v. Airline Training Center Arizona, Inc., 247 F. Supp. 3d 1098, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165504 (D. Ariz. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER

Honorable Diane J. Humetewa, United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is Defendant Airline Training Center, Inc.’s (“ATCA” or “Defendant”) Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) or, Alternatively, for Summary Judgment or, in the Further Alternative, to Dismiss on the Grounds of Forum Non Conveniens (Doc. 18), filed on June 17, 2016. Defendant also filed a Separate Statement of Facts (Doc. 19) in support of its summary judgment motion, and two supporting Declarations. (Docs. 20, 21). A day earlier, Defendant filed essentially the same motion and supporting materials in the Friday case. (Docs. 19-22 of CV-16-00859-PHX-DJH). On June 29, 2016, Judge Rosenblatt, who was previously assigned to the Friday case, CV-16-00859, ordered that it be transferred to this Court and consolidated with CV-16-01027, the Oto case. (Doc. 30). The lead case in the consolidated action is the Oto case because it has 146 plaintiffs, whereas the Friday case has one plaintiff, David Friday.

On July 28, 2016, counsel for Plaintiff Friday filed a Declaration in Support of Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendant ATCA’s Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Summary Judgment. (Doc. 31). On July 29, the consolidated Plaintiffs filed a Memorandum in Opposition to Defendant ATCA’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 32), a Response to ATCA’s Statement of facts in Support of Its Motion for Summary Judgment and Plaintiffs’ Counterstatement of Facts (Doc. 33), and supporting Declarations. (Docs. 34, 35). On August 8, 2016, Defendant filed a Reply Memorandum of Law in Further Support of Its Motions to Dismiss Plaintiffs’ Complaints (Doc. 37), a Reply to Plaintiffs’ Counterstatement of Facts (Doc. 38), and supporting Declarations. (Docs. 39, 40).1

Also pending are Plaintiffs’ Motion Requesting Rule 56(d) Discovery (Doc. 36), to which a Response in Opposition (Doc. 41) and a Reply (Doc. 42) were filed; Plaintiffs’ Motion to File a Reply Declaration (Doc. 43), to which no response was filed; and Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to File Supplemental Documents (Doc. 45), to which a Response in Opposition (Doc. 47) and a Reply (Doc. 48) were filed.

[1102]*11021. Background

This action arises from the tragic circumstances surrounding the crash of Ger-manwings Flight 4U9525 into the French Alps on March 24, 2015. Plaintiff Friday-filed a Complaint against Defendant in this district court on March 29, 2016. (Doc. 1 of CV-16-00859). The other Plaintiffs (the “Oto Plaintiffs”) filed a Complaint (Doc. 1) against Defendant in this district court on April 14, 2016, As noted above, the two matters have been consolidated. The two Complaints raise similar allegations, though for purposes of this background section, the Court relies primarily on the allegations in the Oto Plaintiffs’ Complaint. Plaintiffs bring these actions “individually, as representatives of the respective estates of the Decedents named [in the Complaints], and on behalf of all statutory beneficiaries of the claims for the wrongful deaths of the Decedents named [in the Complaints].” (Doc. 6 at 14).2

The Oto Plaintiffs allege in their Complaint that on March 24, 2015, Andreas Lubitz was a Germanwings employee and the co-pilot of an Airbus A320-211 aircraft for an intended flight from Barcelona, Spain to Dusseldorf, Germany, designated as Germanwings Flight 4U9525. 150 people were on board including 144 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crewmem-bers. During the flight, Lubitz locked the Captain out of the cockpit, took control of the plane and programmed it to descend. Approximately 11 minutes later, despite repeated attempts by the Captain to gain entry into the cockpit, Lubitz intentionally flew the plane into mountainous terrain, killing everyone on board.

Plaintiffs assert that Defendant ATCA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Flight Training GmbH (“LFTG”), which is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Airlines. Lufthansa owns and operates Germanwings. Lufthansa, and other airlines, send the student pilot candidates in their airline pilot training programs to ATCA for aircraft flight training. Before beginning the ATCA portion of the pilot training program, Lufthansa student pilots must obtain a German Airman’s Medical Certificate and a United States Federal Aviation Administration Airmen’s Medical Certificate. Plaintiffs contend ATCA had a duty to examine its students’ medical certificates to ensure no student had a medical condition that would disqualify the student or otherwise render the student unsuitable to be a commercial airline pilot.

Plaintiffs contend that Lubitz began the process of becoming a pilot for Lufthansa/Germanwings in April 2008 in Germany. In late 2008, during the academic portion of the training, Lubitz suffered psychotic and severe depressive episodes. As a result, in November 2008, he suspended his coursework for nearly ten months to undergo treatment. During this period, Lu-bitz was hospitalized and underwent nine months of psychotherapy for severe depressive episodes, anxiety and suicidal ideations. He was prescribed multiple antidepressant medications. After treatment, on July 28, 2009, Lubitz was issued a German Airman’s Medical Certificate that included a restriction stating it would become invalid if he had a relapse or recurrence of depression. Plaintiffs claim Lubitz lied on his FAA medical application by claiming that he had never been diagnosed with, or presently had, mental disorders including depression and anxiety. A doctor subsequently corrected the false statement in the application about Lubitz’s mental [1103]*1103disorder. On July 28, 2010, the FAA medical certificate was issued with a warning that he could not operate an aircraft if new symptoms occurred or if he required treatment or medication. Lubitz later resumed his training, and completed the academic portion in October 2010,

Plaintiffs allege that Lubitz provided his German and FAA medical certificates to ATCA in early November 2010, began his ATCA pilot training in Arizona on November 8, 2010, and completed it on March 2, 2011. Plaintiff Friday alleges that during Lubitz’s training in Arizona, ATCA questioned Lubitz’s stability and that “[sjeveral post-crash accounts reveal that at least one person at ATCA declared Lubitz ‘unflya-ble.’ ” (Doc. 1 of CV-16-00859 at 4). The Oto Plaintiffs allege that during his flight training at ATCA, Lubitz “exhibited signs and symptoms of psychological abnormalities, reactive depression and personality disorders and ATCA failed to disqualify him from obtaining a pilot license and from continuing his training to become a commercial airline pilot.” (Doc. 6 at 48).

Plaintiffs allege that ATCA breached its duty of care to the passengers of the Ger-manwings Flight by failing to properly screen and monitor Lubitz for mental health conditions when he participated in ATCA’s training program. Plaintiffs contend that proper screening of Lubitz before he joined the ATCA flight training program “would have revealed his history of severe depression, suicidal ideations, hospitalization on account of such disorders and his dishonesty and untrustworthiness, making him unqualified to become a Lufthansa commercial airline pilot.” (Doc. 6 at 15). Plaintiffs further allege that ATCA failed to properly monitor Lubitz during his flight training for symptoms of mental health conditions, and when he exhibited such symptoms, ATCA failed to disqualify him.

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Bluebook (online)
247 F. Supp. 3d 1098, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oto-v-airline-training-center-arizona-inc-azd-2017.