Abadi v. Am. Airlines, Inc.

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AARON ABADI Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC., et al., Defendants.

No. 23-cv-4033 (LJL)

United States District Court, S.D. New York

March 29, 2024

OPINION AND ORDER

LEWIS J. LIMAN, United States District Judge

This Opinion and Order resolves three motions pending before the Court: (1) the motion of Defendants American Airlines, Inc. Delta Airlines, Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., Southwest Airlines Co., United Airlines, Inc., (the “Domestic Airlines”), and individual employees or agents of the Domestic Airlines Robert Land, Roy Goldberg, Debbie Castleton, and Nathalie Simon (the “Domestic Individuals”) to dismiss the Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and for failure to state a claim for relief under Rule 12(b)(6), Dkt. Nos. 121, 197; (2) the motion of Defendant Silver Airways, LLC (“Silver,” and, together with the Domestic Airlines and Domestic Individuals, “Domestic Defendants”), to dismiss the Complaint for failure to comply with federal pleading standards under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8 and for failure to state a claim for relief pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6); (3) the motion of Defendants Concesionaria Vuela Compañia de Aviación, Royal Air Maroc, Aerovías de México S.A. de C.V. Transportes Aereos Portugueses, S.A., Spirit Airlines, Inc. Avianca S.A., Singapore Airlines, LATAM Airlines Group S.A. Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, LOT Polish Airlines, S.A., British Airways P.L.C. (the “Foreign Airlines”), and individual employee Matthew Roberts (together with the Foreign Airlines, the “Foreign Defendants,” and collectively, with the Domestic Defendants and Silver, the “Moving Defendants”)^[1] to dismiss the Complaint for, inter alia, failure to state a claim for relief, Dkt. No. 179. For the following reasons, the motions are granted.

BACKGROUND

The well-pleaded allegations of Plaintiff's Complaint see Dkt. Nos. 3, 3-1, 3-2 (“Compl.”), are assumed to be true for purposes of these motions. In light of Plaintiff's pro se status, the Court construes the Complaint liberally and broadly, and interprets it to state the strongest claims it suggests. See, e.g., Triestman v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 470 F.3d 471, 475 (2d Cir. 2006).

I. The Relevant Parties

Plaintiff Aaron Abadi (“Plaintiff” or “Abadi”), proceeding pro se, is a resident and citizen of New York. Compl. ¶ 1. He has a sensory processing disorder that prevents him from wearing a mask. Id. ¶ 141. He “travels a whole lot,” id. ¶ 807, both for his work and for pleasure, id. ¶¶ 174, 806-807. Plaintiff works in the “waste management and energy business” and is the owner and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the National Environmental Group (“NEG”), and “needs to travel for his income.” Id. ¶¶ 174, 813, 823. Plaintiff also “loves to travel for pleasure.” Id. ¶ 174.

The Complaint names sixty-one defendants. The defendants include forty-six airlines (“Airline Defendants”),^[2] several employees of airlines, two attorneys who have represented airlines, two medical advisory groups (MedAire, Inc., and the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, doing business as “STAT-MD”), and several “Government Defendants,” including the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), the United States Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”), certain federal employees, and the President of the United States,^[3] (collectively, “Defendants”). Id. ¶¶ 2-62. As noted, this Opinion addresses three motions to dismiss made by twenty-five of the Defendants.

Domestic Defendants are five airlines and four individuals, all based in the United States. American Airlines, Inc. (“American”), Delta Airlines, Inc. (“Delta”), JetBlue Airways Corp. (“JetBlue”), Southwest Airlines Co. (“Southwest”), and United Airlines, Inc. (“United”) are airlines based in the United States that are alleged to fly through or have operations in Texas, where the Complaint was first filed. Id. ¶¶ 2, 15, 24, 38, 45. Roy Goldberg (“Goldberg”) is an attorney who represents American. Id. ¶ 49. Nathalie Simon (“Simon”) works in Delta's Customer Care Department. Id. ¶ 51. Robert Land (“Land”) is the Senior Vice President Government Affairs and Associate General Counsel of JetBlue. Id. ¶ 54. Debbie Castleton (“Castleton”) works in customer support for JetBlue. Id. ¶ 55.

Foreign Defendants are eleven airlines and one individual. Concesionaria Vuela Compañia de Aviación, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (“Volaris”), Royal Air Maroc, Ltd. (“Maroc”), Aerovías de México S.A. de C.V. doing business as Aeromexico Airlines (“Aeromexico”), Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, S.A. (“TAP”), Avianca S.A. (“Avianca”), Singapore Airlines (“SIA”), LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (“Latam”), Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. Operadora, Socieded Unipoersonal (“Iberia Air”), Lot Polish Airlines, S.A. (“LOT Air”), and British Airways P.L.C. (“British Air”), are foreign airlines that fly to and from the United States. Id. ¶¶ 4, 7, 12, 23, 28, 29, 34, 37, 43. Spirit Airlines, Inc. (“Spirit”) is a U.S. based airline but joins the motion to dismiss of the above, ¶ 39, Matthew Roberts (“Roberts”), a British subject, is the airport manager for British Air at the Washington Dulles Airport and the Baltimore International Airport, id. ¶ 48.

II. The Federal Government's Travel Policies in Response to COVID-19

“As the world well knows,” the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States in early 2020. Goldberg v. Pace Univ., 88 F.4th 204, 208 (2d Cir. 2023). The virus caused “most of the planet to get sick, and caused the death [sic] of over 6 million people.” Compl. ¶ 92.

On January 21, 2021, the day after his inauguration, President Biden issued Executive Order 13998, Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel, 86 Fed.Reg. 7205 (Jan. 21, 2021), in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Compl. ¶ 95; see Dkt. No. 3-6, (the “Executive Order”). The Executive Order expressed the following policy of the United States:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Surgeon General, and the National Institutes of Health have concluded that mask-wearing, physical distancing, appropriate ventilation, and timely testing can mitigate the risk of travelers spreading COVID-19. Accordingly, to save lives and allow all Americans, including the millions of people employed in the transportation industry, to travel and work safely, it is the policy of [the Biden] Administration to implement these public health measures consistent with CDC guidelines on public modes of transportation and at ports of entry to the United States.

Executive Order § 1.

The Executive Order directs the Secretaries of Labor, HHS, Transportation (including through the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration), Homeland Security (including through the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”)), and the heads of other executive departments and agencies to “immediately take action, to the extent appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to require masks to be worn in compliance with CDC guidelines in or on,” among other places, airports and commercial aircrafts. Id. § 2(a).

Pursuant to the Executive Order, the CDC issued rules regulating masking. On or about January 29, 2021, the CDC issued an order, Dkt. No. 3-7 (the “CDC Order” or “Mask Mandate”) directing conveyance operators, including airlines, to use best efforts to ensure that any person on the conveyance wears a mask when boarding, disembarking, and for the duration of travel. Compl. ¶ 99. In pertinent part, the CDC Order states:

(1) Persons must wear masks over the mouth and nose when traveling on conveyances into and within the United States. Persons must also wear masks at transportation hubs as defined in this Order.

(2) A conveyance operator transporting persons into and within the United States must require all persons onboard to wear masks for the duration of travel.

(3) A conveyance operators [sic] operating a conveyance arriving at or departing from a U.S. port of entry must require all persons on board to wear masks for the duration of travel as a condition of controlled free pratique.^[4]

(4) Conveyance operators must use best efforts to ensure that any person on the conveyance wears a mask when boarding, disembarking, and for the duration of travel.

CDC Order at 1-2; see also id. at 9.

The CDC Order defines “conveyance as including, among other means of transport, aircrafts, and defines “conveyance operator” broadly to include any “individual or organization causing or authorizing the operation of a conveyance.” Id. at 2. Best efforts include, among other measures:

• boarding only those persons who wear masks;

• instructing persons that Federal law requires wearing a mask on the conveyance and failure to comply constitutes a violation of Federal law;

• monitoring persons onboard the conveyance for anyone who is not wearing a mask and seeking compliance from such persons;

• at the earliest opportunity, disembarking any person who refuses to comply; and

• providing persons with prominent and adequate notice to facilitate awareness and compliance of the requirement of this Order to wear a mask; best practices may include, if feasible, advance notification on digital platforms, such as on apps, websites, or email; posted signage in multiple languages with illustrations; printing the requirement on transit tickets; or other methods as appropriate.

Id. at 1-2. With respect to foreign air carriers, the CDC Order provided:

Conveyance operators must also require all persons to wear masks while boarding and for the duration of their travel on board conveyances departing from the United States until the conveyances arrives at the

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