Shabotinsky v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG

245 F. Supp. 3d 1018, 2017 WL 1134475, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44052
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedMarch 27, 2017
DocketCase No. 16 C 4865
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 245 F. Supp. 3d 1018 (Shabotinsky v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shabotinsky v. Deutsche Lufthansa AG, 245 F. Supp. 3d 1018, 2017 WL 1134475, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44052 (N.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Elaine E. Bucklo, United States District Judge

Plaintiff David Shabotinsky (“Shabotin-sky”) brings this putative class action against Deutsche Lufthansa AG (“Lufthansa”) for violations of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, May 28, 1999, S. Treaty Doc. No. 106-45 (the “Montreal Convention” or “the Convention”). Lufthansa has moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Rules 8(a) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In addition, Lufthansa has separately moved to impose sanctions on plaintiffs counsel pursuant to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons discussed below, the motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part, and the motion for sanctions is denied.

I.

For purposes of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, I take the complaint’s allegations as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs favor. See, e.g., Lavalais v. Village of Melrose Park, 734 F.3d 629, 632 (7th Cir. 2013). Shabotinsky alleges that in May 2014, he held tickets for an August 24, 2014 Lufthansa flight from Chi-cago to Tel Aviv, Israel. The first leg of the flight was from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany; the second was from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv.

According to Shabotinsky, he was notified on or about August 23, 2014 that the flight from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv had been cancelled and that he had been re-booked on another flight from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv.1 The new flight’s departure time was [1021]*1021four hours later than the original flight’s. Shabotinsky claims that he was “estranged” at Frankfurt International Airport while waiting for his connecting flight and incurred out-of-pocket expenses for food, refreshments, medications, and telecommunication services. Am. Compl. ¶ 5. He further alleges that he arrived in Tel Aviv almost five hours later than he had been scheduled to arrive on the original flight, and that as a result, he missed the event for which he had taken the trip.

Shabotinsky initially filed a ninety-two-page complaint alleging claims against Lufthansa under the Montreal Convention as well as Regulation No. 261/2004 of the European Parliament and European Council (“EU 261”). He also asserted claims for breach of contract. In addition to moving to dismiss the complaint, Lufthansa also sought sanctions based on the length of Shabotinsky’s pleading and the asserted baselessness of certain of his claims. Sha-botinsky was given leave to file an amended complaint, which ultimately dropped all claims save those arising under the Montreal Convention. The amended complaint asserts three such claims, each based on Article 19 of the Convention, which provides:

The carrier is liable for damage occasioned by delay in the carriage by air of passengers, baggage or cargo. Nevertheless, the carrier shall not be liable for damage occasioned by delay if it proves that it and its servants and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage or that it was impossible for it or them to take such measures.

Montreal Convention, art. 19.

Count I of the amended complaint is based on damages Shabotinsky and other alleged class members suffered as a result of the flight’s delay. Counts II and III appear to be based on Lufthansa’s failure to “meaningfully consider” Shabotinsky’s and other class members’ pre-suit “notices of claim” and settlement offers.

II. Motion to Dismiss

A. Rule 8

Lufthansa argues that the amended complaint should be dismissed for failing to comport with Federal Rule 8(a)’s requirement that plaintiffs provide “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Lufthansa acknowledges that the current pleading has been considerably shortened (from over ninety pages to thirty-five) but it insists that the amended complaint is still too long for a dispute involving a flight delay of no more than five hours. While I agree that Shabotinsky’s complaint could be more concise, it provides Lufthansa with fair notice of the nature of Shabotinsky’s claims. See, e.g., Pumputiena v. Deutsche Lufthansa, AG, No. 16 C 4868, 2017 WL 66828, *3 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 6, 2017) (declining to dismiss on the basis of Rule 8 a seventy-five page complaint drafted by plaintiffs counsel in this case, despite the fact that the “complaint is way too long, riddled with typographical and other errors, laced with irrelevant material, and poorly organized”). Accordingly, Lufthansa’s motion to dismiss based on Rule 8 is denied.

B. Rule 12(b)(6)

Lufthansa additionally argues that the amended complaint fails to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) because Shabotinsky’s causes of action are not covered by the Montreal Convention and because he has failed to allege compensable damages under the Convention. Lufthansa also argues that Shabotinsky’s class claims must be dismissed. I consider these contentions in turn.

[1022]*10221. The Montreal Convention

Lufthansa first argues that Shabo-tinsky’s claims must be dismissed because they are not covered by the Montreal Convention. This is so, according to Lufthansa, because the Convention does not govern matters occurring prior to a flight’s departure but instead applies only after ‘“the passenger presents herself to the carrier or its agents as ready to begin the air journey.’ ” Def.’s Mem. at 6 (quoting Lathigra v. British Airways PLC, 41 F.3d 535, 539 (9th Cir. 1994)). Lufthansa maintains that Shabotinsky’s complaint is based on pre-departure “scheduling and ticketing issues,” Def.’s Reply Br. at 6, not on a delay in his transportation or carriage. As a result, Lufthansa contends that Shabotinsky’s dispute is governed by his contract with the airline (i.e., the Conditions of Carriage), rather than the Montreal Convention.2

I am unpersuaded. As another court in this district recently observed in rejecting the argument Lufthansa presents here, “nothing in Article 19 of the Montreal Convention suggests that it only applies to delays that occur after, a plaintiffs initial flight takes off.” Dochak v. Polskie Linie Lotnieze LOT S.A., 189 F.Supp.3d 798, 808 (N.D. Ill. 2016). Courts have frequently been called upon to decide whether a passenger’s claim sounds in contract or arises under the Montreal Convention. Case authority makes clear that the answer to this question depends not on whether the plaintiffs claim arose before or after a flight’s departure, but whether the airline failed completely to perform under the contract (by, for example, “bumping” a passenger or otherwise failing to transport him to his destination) or merely caused a delay in the passenger’s arrival.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
245 F. Supp. 3d 1018, 2017 WL 1134475, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44052, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shabotinsky-v-deutsche-lufthansa-ag-ilnd-2017.