Travis Blake v. Kiwi Air, LLC dba Hells Canyon Helicopters and Blake Malo

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Washington
DecidedNovember 17, 2025
Docket2:25-cv-00253
StatusUnknown

This text of Travis Blake v. Kiwi Air, LLC dba Hells Canyon Helicopters and Blake Malo (Travis Blake v. Kiwi Air, LLC dba Hells Canyon Helicopters and Blake Malo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travis Blake v. Kiwi Air, LLC dba Hells Canyon Helicopters and Blake Malo, (E.D. Wash. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 FILED IN THE 3 EASTER U N . S D . I S D T I R S I T C R T I C O T F C W O A U S R H T I NGTON Nov 17, 2025 4 SEAN F. MCAVOY, CLERK 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 EASTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 TRAVIS BLAKE, individually, No. 2:25-CV-00253-RLP

8 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT BLAKE MALO’S MOTION TO 9 v. DISMISS

10 KIWI AIR, LLC dba Hells Canyon Helicopters, a Washington Limited 11 Liability Company, and BLAKE MALO, individually, 12 Defendants. 13 14 Before the Court is Defendant Blake Malo’s Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 6. 15 Oral argument was held on the motion on November 14, 2025. Robert L. Bowman 16 appeared on behalf of Mr. Malo. Rachel Min Luke appeared on behalf of Plaintiff 17 Travis Blake. For the reasons discussed below, Mr. Malo’s Motion to Dismiss is 18 denied. 19 // 20 1 BACKGROUND 2 Defendant Kiwi Air LLC is a helicopter operations and maintenance

3 company with its principal place of business in Clarkston, Washington. ECF Nos. 4 1 at 2; 7, ¶¶6-9; 9-1 at 14 (noting Kiwi Air’s helipad and hanger are located in 5 Clarkston). Kiwi Air operates many helicopter trips out of Clarkston. ECF Nos. 9-1

6 at 6-17; 9-2, ¶4. Kiwi Air is owned by Mr. Malo, who performs general 7 management functions and serves as Director of Operations, a pilot, and a 8 mechanic. ECF No. 7, ¶¶4-5. Mr. Malo resides in Portland, Oregon, but 9 periodically travels to Clarkston for work. Id., ¶6. Mr. Malo estimates he works in

10 Washington approximately one week per month, although some months he does 11 not travel to Washington. Id.; see also ECF No. 9-2, ¶4 (noting Mr. Malo resides in 12 an apartment in Kiwi Air’s hangar in Clarkston when he travels).

13 In 2024, Kiwi Air entered into a contract with the South Dakota Department 14 of Game, Fish, & Parks to use a helicopter to capture elk in South Dakota’s Black 15 Hills. ECF No. 9-1 at 19-24. Mr. Malo signed the contract on behalf of Kiwi Air. 16 Id. at 24.

17 Plaintiff Travis Blake periodically worked for Kiwi Air as a contractor/ 18 crewmember,1 and previously worked on wildlife capture projects out of 19

20 1The parties alternatively characterize Mr. Blake as a contractor or an 1 Washington. Id., ¶12; ECF No. 9-2, ¶5. Mr. Blake is a Montana resident. ECF No. 2 1 at 2. In early 2024, Mr. Blake inquired with Kiwi Air about work on a wildlife

3 project, and in late 2024 Mr. Blake accepted an offer from Mr. Malo to be a gunner 4 for the South Dakota project. ECF Nos. 7, ¶17; 9-2, ¶6-7. As a gunner, Mr. Blake’s 5 job was to fire a tranquilizer gun from the helicopter to immobilize the elk. ECF

6 Nos. 7, ¶16; 9-2, ¶11. 7 To perform the contract, Mr. Malo traveled from his home in Oregon to 8 Clarkston, where he collected the helicopter for the project. ECF No. 7, ¶18. Mr. 9 Malo then drove the helicopter from Clarkston to Montana, where he picked up

10 Mr. Blake, and thence to South Dakota. ECF No. 7, ¶¶18-20. In Montana and 11 South Dakota, Mr. Malo instructed Mr. Blake about his job duties and on 12 helicopter safety procedures. ECF Nos. 7, ¶¶21-25; 9-2, ¶ ¶10-12. According to

13 Mr. Blake, Mr. Malo instructed him to shoot while standing on the helicopter skid. 14 ECF No. 9-2, ¶¶11-12. Mr. Blake alleges that Mr. Malo directed him to wear a 15 safety harness attached via a tether to an anchor strap belt looped around a bar in 16 the helicopter while shooting. Id. According to Mr. Malo, he instructed Mr. Blake

17 to always remain seated in the helicopter with his seatbelt fastened. ECF No. 7, 18 ¶24. 19

20 employee. See ECF Nos. 7, ¶12; 9-2, ¶9. 1 On February 27, 2025, Mr. Blake attached his safety harness to the anchor 2 strap on a bar in the helicopter. ECF Nos. 7, ¶26; 9-2, 14. Mr. Blake alleges the

3 anchor strap was already present on the bar when he began his duties as a gunner, 4 and that Mr. Malo directed him to attach his harness to the strap on the bar. ECF 5 No. 9-2, ¶¶12-14. During that day’s operations, the bar on which the anchor strap

6 was attached failed, and Mr. Blake fell out of the helicopter while standing on the 7 skid. ECF No. 1 at 9-12. 8 Mr. Blake filed the Complaint initiating this action against Kiwi Air, LLC 9 and Mr. Malo on July 15, 2025. ECF No. 1. He asserts state law claims for product

10 liability and negligence stemming from Defendants’ allegedly improper design and 11 installation of the anchor point, negligent maintenance, and failure to provide 12 adequate warnings. Id. at 16-21.

13 LEGAL STANDARD 14 Rule 12(b)(2) governs the dismissal of an action based on lack of personal 15 jurisdiction. When a defendant moves to dismiss a complaint for lack of personal 16 jurisdiction, the plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that jurisdiction is

17 appropriate. Schwarzenegger v. Fred Martin Motor Co., 374 F.3d 797, 799 (9th 18 Cir. 2004). Where the motion is based on written materials, “the plaintiff need only 19 made a prima facie showing of jurisdictional facts.” Id. at 800 (internal quotation

20 marks omitted). A prima facie showing means the plaintiff has produced 1 admissible evidence which, if believed, is sufficient to establish the existence of 2 personal jurisdiction. Ballard v. Savage, 65 F.3d 1495, 1498 (9th Cir. 1995).

3 Although the plaintiff cannot “simply rest on the bare allegations of its complaint 4 and must come forward with facts, by affidavit or otherwise, supporting personal 5 jurisdiction, uncontroverted allegations in the complaint must be taken as true.”

6 Amba Marketing Sys., Inc. v. Jobar Int’l, Inc., 551 F.2d 784, 787 (9th Cir. 1977). If 7 any conflict exists between the parties’ evidence, the court must resolve it in the 8 plaintiff’s favor. AT&T v. Compagnie Bruxelles Lambert, 94 F.3d 586, 588 (9th 9 Cir. 1996).

10 “The power of a federal court entertaining a case based on diversity of 11 citizenship to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant turns on 12 two independent considerations: (1) whether an applicable state rule or statute

13 potentially confers personal jurisdiction over the defendant; and (2) whether 14 assertion of such jurisdiction accords with constitutional principles of due 15 process.” Easterday v. Tyson Free Meats, Inc., 2023 WL 3272404, at *2 (E.D. 16 Wash. Apr. 12, 2023) (citing Data Disc Inc. v. Sys. Tech. Assocs., Inc., 557 F.2d

17 1280, 1286 (9th Cir. 1977)). 18 Washington’s long-arm statute, RCW 4.28.185, extends personal jurisdiction 19 to the broadest reach that the Due Process Clause of the federal Constitution

20 permits. Downing v. Losvar, 21 Wn. App. 2d 635, 654, 507 P.3d 894 (2022). 1 “Because Washington’s long-arm jurisdictional statute is coextensive with federal 2 due process requirements, the jurisdictional analysis under state law and federal

3 due process are the same.” Easterday, 2023 WL 3272404, at *2. 4 DISCUSSION 5 Mr. Malo contends the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over him, as Mr.

6 Blake’s claims concern a helicopter accident which occurred in South Dakota and 7 in no way involves Mr. Malo’s contacts with Washington. Mr. Blake contends his 8 claims relate to and arise out of Mr. Malo and Kiwi Air’s business activities in 9 Washington.

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Travis Blake v. Kiwi Air, LLC dba Hells Canyon Helicopters and Blake Malo, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travis-blake-v-kiwi-air-llc-dba-hells-canyon-helicopters-and-blake-malo-waed-2025.