Onur Özcan, Orhun Özcan, Salih Coskun, Abudullah Ozturk, Kudret Yüzügüler, and Mutlu Yüzügüler v. The Boeing Company

Summary

The court addresses Boeing's motions to dismiss, the plaintiffs' motion for leave to amend, and a motion to seal exhibits arising from the 2020 crash of Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193 in Istanbul. It denies leave to add proposed Federal Tort Claims Act claims against the FAA and NTSB as futile and time-barred, dismisses the plaintiffs' post-accident claims with prejudice under claim preclusion, and dismisses the remaining claims on forum non conveniens grounds in favor of a Turkish forum.

Holdings

1. The proposed FTCA claims against the FAA and NTSB were futile and could not be added because the alleged injuries were suffered in Turkey and the claims were barred by the FTCA's foreign-country exception; the claims were also untimely.
2. Leave to amend was granted to the extent the proposed amendment streamlined and clarified allegations against Boeing, but denied as to adding the FAA and NTSB and asserting FTCA claims against them.
3. The post-accident claims were barred by claim preclusion and were dismissed with prejudice because the Illinois state court's denial of leave to amend constituted a final judgment on the merits of the claims Plaintiffs sought to add.
4. The purported motion for sanctions included within the complaint was stricken because Plaintiffs failed to comply with the district's motion-presentment and memorandum requirements.
5. The remaining products-liability, negligence, and loss-of-consortium claims were dismissed with prejudice under forum non conveniens because Turkey was an available and adequate alternative forum and the private and public interest factors favored litigation there.

Questions Presented

1. Whether leave to amend should be granted to add claims against the FAA and NTSB under the FTCA.
2. Whether the proposed FTCA claims were futile because they were barred by the FTCA's foreign-country exception and statute of limitations.
3. Whether Plaintiffs' post-accident claims were barred by claim preclusion based on the Illinois state court's denial of leave to amend.
4. Whether a motion for sanctions included within a complaint should be stricken for failure to comply with local motion-presentment and briefing rules.
5. Whether Plaintiffs' remaining products-liability, negligence, and loss-of-consortium claims should be dismissed under forum non conveniens in favor of Turkey.

Disposition

dismissed