Jones Company v. Signature Flight Support, LLC, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana addresses defendant Phillip Everett’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss a gross-negligence claim and the Jones Company’s motion for partial summary judgment concerning an exculpatory clause in an aircraft landing card. The court denies Everett’s motion to dismiss, holding that Louisiana law permits the gross-negligence claim under Louisiana Civil Code Articles 2315 and 2004. The court also rules that the landing card is not a contract of adhesion, that the exculpatory clause is unenforceable to the extent it shields defendants from gross-negligence liability, and that the clause does not apply to Everett as a Signature affiliate.

Holdings

1. Jones Company adequately pleaded a gross-negligence claim, and Louisiana law does not require a separate statutory cause of action expressly labeled gross negligence for article 2004 to apply. The Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss count two was denied.
2. Jones Company did not establish as a matter of law that the landing card was a contract of adhesion. The summary-judgment motion was denied on this issue.
3. Term (4) was unenforceable and void to the extent Signature or Everett sought to apply it to claims alleging gross negligence. The clause's language prospectively limited liability for gross negligence and therefore offended article 2004.
4. Jones Company did not establish that Term (4) was unenforceable in its entirety. The court limited its ruling to applications of Term (4) involving claims alleging gross negligence.
5. Everett was not an affiliate of Signature within the meaning of the landing card, and no genuine dispute of material fact existed on that issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Louisiana law recognizes a gross-negligence claim under Louisiana Civil Code article 2315 and whether Jones Company adequately pleaded such a claim.
2. Whether the landing card was a contract of adhesion and therefore unenforceable.
3. Whether the landing-card exculpatory clause violated Louisiana Civil Code article 2004 by prospectively limiting liability for gross negligence.
4. Whether the exculpatory clause was unenforceable in its entirety or only insofar as it purported to limit liability for gross negligence.
5. Whether Phillip Everett was an affiliate of Signature within the meaning of the landing card.

Disposition

other