Damages – Airline Delay

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: James Varsamis, et al. v. Iberia, Lineas Aereas de Espana; Hans-Peter Baumeister v. Deutsche Lufthansa, AG.

Case No.: 14-2414; 14-2633

Officials: POSNER, EASTERBROOK, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Damages – Airline Delay

Appellants not entitled to damages for delay in flight

“It is not uncommon for the airline that sells the tickets for an international flight to arrange for another airline to provide service over part of the route. Sometimes that other airline–the bridge carrier, we’ll call it—experiences delay in its segment of the flight, and if substantial the delay may entitle the passengers to damages. The question presented by these two appeals is in what circumstances the bridge carrier is liable for those damages, and in what circumstances the originating carrier, which sold the tickets, is liable. In both cases the plaintiffs sued on behalf of a class, but the suits were dismissed at the summary judgment stage before any classes were certified.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.