Pierre-Canel v. Am. Airlines

375 F. Supp. 3d 1044
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedMarch 21, 2019
DocketNo. 4:17-CV-122-CKJ
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 375 F. Supp. 3d 1044 (Pierre-Canel v. Am. Airlines) 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
Pierre-Canel v. Am. Airlines, 375 F. Supp. 3d 1044 (D. Ariz. 2019).

Opinion

Cindy K. Jorgenson, United States District Judge

Pending before the Court is the Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 63) filed by Defendant American Airlines, Inc. ("American"). Plaintiffs Iddy M. Pierre-Canel ("Pierre-Canel") and Emmanuel J. Simeus ("Simeus") (collectively, "Plaintiffs") have filed a response (Doc. 65) and American has filed a reply (Doc. 67). Oral argument has been requested. However, the issues are fully presented in the briefs and the Court finds it would not be assisted by oral argument. The Court declines to schedule this matter for oral argument. LRCiv 7.2(f).

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On February 8, 2016, Pierre-Canel's child Carm-Idrelle Casseus ("Casseus") died in Tucson, Arizona. Adair Funeral Home arranged for Casseus's remains to be flown from Tucson, Arizona to Snowden Funeral Home in Baltimore, Maryland for cremation and for memorial services.

Pierre-Canel's return flight to Tucson, with a layover in Dallas/Fort Worth, was booked with American for March 5, 2016. Simeus returned to Tucson a few days earlier.

Pierre-Canel had Casseus's cremated remains placed in a sealed screw top urn ("the Urn"). Plaintiffs assert Pierre-Canel packed the Urn, her daughter's pictures, jewelry box and jewelry, personal items, and a yellow envelope containing numerous sympathy cards and monetary gifts in her Louis Vuitton duffel bag (the "LV Bag"). During her deposition testimony, Pierre-Canel testified that the LV Bag contained the Urn, three suits, ten dresses, *1049two pairs of jeans, four pairs of dress pants, four pairs of shoes, cosmetics, one purse, two wallets, lingerie, undergarments, sandals and Casseus's $24,000 in jewelry. Simeus testified during his deposition that he did not know what Pierre-Canel packed. Pierre-Canel planned to carry the LV Bag and a red roller bag (the "Red Bag") as carry-on baggage on the aircraft. Pierre-Canel asserts she arrived at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport ("BWI") with three bags; she checked a large gray bag at the ticket counter. American asserts its baggage records indicate Pierre-Canel checked one bag at 4:20 p.m. at the ticket counter. Plaintiffs point out that this assertion by American assumes their baggage records are accurate. American's customer service records and an American Senior Investigator admit American mishandled the bag(s) in question.

Pierre-Canel asserts she carried the remaining two bags (the LV Bag and the Red Bag) and proceeded towards the departure gate. At the TSA screening area, the TSA agent requested Pierre-Canel open the bags. The TSA agent noticed the Urn in the LV Bag and inquired about its contents. Pierre-Canel told the TSA agent the Urn contained the ashes of her daughter, Casseus; the TSA agent told Pierre-Canel not to carry the Urn outside the bag, just to keep it in her carry-on bag and proceed to the departure gate.

At the American departure gate, Pierre-Canel checked in. She asserts she then sat in the waiting area at the gate and, mourning the loss of her daughter, began crying quietly. Plaintiffs assert a gate agent approached Pierre-Canel three (3) different times and asked her if she could check Pierre-Canel's bags. Plaintiffs assert Pierre-Canel specifically told a gate agent that her daughter's ashes were in an urn in her LV Bag and refused to have her bags checked. As Pierre-Canel prepared to board the plane at the jetway door, a woman who was later identified as Gate Agent Rosann McCormack ("McCormack") took both carry-on bags from Pierre-Canel. Plaintiffs also assert that neither McCormack nor anyone else told Pierre-Canel to remove valuable items from her bags. Pierre-Canel states she believed the gate agent was going to carry Pierre-Canel's bags on the airplane for her. Plaintiffs assert that, after Pierre-Canel took her seat in first class and the plane doors closed, a Gate Agent gave Pierre-Canel two baggage claim tickets.

American asserts its baggage records indicate Pierre-Canel checked one bag at the gate at 4:57 p.m. Plaintiffs assert the bag shown on American's records to have been checked in at 4:57 p.m. likely belonged to a different passenger whose luggage was also mis-tagged.1 Plaintiffs assert, "[American's] own records show that their baggage service operators had only six minutes time to manipulate the bags from the time it was checked and the time it was loaded onto the plane. Therefore, Pierre-Canel's luggage could not have been checked at 4:57, as alleged by [American.]" Pl. SOF (Doc. 66, p. 5). The records further indicate the gate-checked bag was a red American Tourister bag and not a Louis Vuitton bag. American points out this was a full hour before the plane was boarded at 5:48 p.m. American also points out that Pierre-Canel testified that in all the times she has ever flown, she has never had a gate agent walk bags onto the plane for her.

*1050Wendy Yang ("Yang"), McCormack, and Michael Bailey ("Bailey"), the American gate agents/customer service representatives working Pierre-Canel's flight, testified that they have no recollection of a woman from Pierre-Canel's flight telling them she was carrying an urn in a Louis Vuitton bag. They also testified that it would have stuck out in their minds if they had been told an urn was in a bag. However, neither McCormack nor Yang remember working Pierre-Canel's flight on March 5, 2016, and Bailey testified he was not at Pierre-Canel's gate on March 5, 2016. McCormack, the American employee identified by Pierre-Canel as the one who she believed would carry her bags onto the plane, testified that she has offered to carry a passenger's bags to the plane for them; however, McCormack also testified that, in her opinion, if a person had carried their bags from the ticket counter to the gate agent, they would not need assistance to carry those same bags onto the plane.

Yang, McCormack, and Bailey also testified that, if a bag is checked there will always be a computerized record. However, Bailey testified that a computer record may not exist (for example, when there is no remaining overhead space or when systems are down). American asserts that even where there was an error (i.e., the wrong tag was placed on the Red Bag), a record is made of the event, unlike the alleged checking of the LV Bag, of which there is no record in American's computer system.

The LV Bag and the Red Bag, which Plaintiffs assert were checked by American personnel, did not timely arrive at the Tucson International Airport ("TIA"). Pierre-Canel went to the baggage claim department and told the American baggage personnel her bags had not arrived. Pierre-Canel asserts she immediately requested assistance from American personnel to locate the Urn containing the ashes of Casseus, as well as her lost bags containing other valuable property. Plaintiffs asserts Pierre-Canel retrieved the LV Bag at TIA the next day. However, Plaintiffs assert the Urn was not in the LV Bag and that the bag had been torn and the zipper broken. Pierre-Canel hoped the Urn would be located because she asserts American personnel told her that, because the LV Bag had been damaged, the Urn and other belongings may have been placed in the Red Bag. Simeus testified that he went with Pierre-Canel to TIA that next day; he testified the LV Bag was at the airport, was damaged and a lot of stuff was missing.

Pierre-Canel contacted American almost daily, but asserts American had no explanation and could not locate the Red Bag.

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375 F. Supp. 3d 1044, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pierre-canel-v-am-airlines-azd-2019.