In re Air Crash near Clarence Ctr.

In re Air Crash near Clarence Ctr.

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

I. INTRODUCTION

On February 12, 2009, Continental Connection Flight 3407 crashed on approach to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people aboard and one person on the ground. All federal litigation related to the crash has been transferred by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to the Western District of New York for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. (Docket No. 1. ¹ )

Presently before this Court are Motions to Remand filed by the plaintiffs in five lawsuits that the defendants removed from the New York State  [*3] Supreme Court, County of Erie. Plaintiffs contend that remand is required because federal jurisdiction is nonexistent. Plaintiffs also seek costs and attorney fees. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs' Motions to Remand will be granted and their request for attorney fees and costs will be denied.

II. BACKGROUND

In November 2009, Plaintiffs filed their respective complaints in the New York Supreme Court, County of Erie, against Defendants Colgan Air, Inc., Pinnacle Airlines Corp., Continental Airlines, Inc., and FlightSafety International, Inc. ("FlightSafety"). The complaints are substantially similar to one another: each asserts negligence claims against Colgan, Pinnacle, and Continental (Johnston Complaint, ¶¶ 42-48 ² ); negligent performance of a contractual duty, third-party beneficiary breach of contract, and negligence claims against FlightSafety (Johnston Complaint, ¶¶ 49-66); and wrongful death and conscious pain and suffering/pre-impact terror claims against all defendants (Johnston Complaint, ¶¶ 67-72).

Most pertinent here are the allegations against FlightSafety, which is a New York corporation with its principal place of business in New York. (Johnston Complaint, ¶ 8.) Plaintiffs allege that FlightSafety trained (or failed to train) the captain of the aircraft, Marvin Renslow, and the first officer, Rebecca Lynne Shaw, pursuant to a training agreement with Colgan, Pinnacle, and/or Continental. (Johnston Complaint, ¶¶ 13, 33, 35.)

Plaintiffs allege that FlightSafety was responsible for providing the necessary flight simulator training to qualify Renslow as a captain on the aircraft at issue — a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 — and that Renslow was trained in November 2008 in St. Louis, MO, using FlightSafety's Dash 8-Q400 simulator. (Johnston Complaint, ¶¶ 33, 34, 62.)

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