Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_01-cv-03444/USCOURTS-cand-3_01-cv-03444-5/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 310
Nature of Suit: Airplane Personal Injury
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Personal Injury

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

In re DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS

LITIGATION

This Document Relates To:

Rietschel v US Airways, Inc, No

01-3444

 /

MDL Docket No 04-1606 VRW

ORDER

In this Deep Vein Thrombosis (“DVT”) case, plaintiff

Ernst-Wilhelm Rietschel (“Rietschel”) bases his claim on a two-hour

ground delay before a flight from Philadelphia to Frankfurt

operated by defendant US Airways, during which time Rietschel was

allegedly kept seated and not offered drinks. Several days after

the flight, Rietschel was diagnosed with DVT. On August 2, 2007,

US Airways moved for summary judgment. Doc ##645, 646 in No 04-

1606. On October 12, 2007, the court denied US Airways’s motion

for summary judgment, holding that a reasonable jury could find the

two elements needed to hold US Airways liable under the applicable

law (see Air France v Saks, 470 US 392, 405-406 (1985)): that the

alleged two-hour confinement without water constituted an accident

Case 3:01-cv-03444-VRW Document 74 Filed 01/25/08 Page 1 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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and that the confinement was a link in the causal chain leading to

Rietschel’s injury. Doc #65 in No 01-3444 at 29, 31. On December

5, 2007, US Airways moved for leave to file a motion for

reconsideration. For reasons discussed below, US Airways’s motion

is DENIED.

Under Civil Local Rule 7-9, to bring a motion for

reconsideration US Airways must show one of the following: (1)

that a material difference in fact or law exists, which was not

presented to the court previously due to no fault of plaintiff; (2)

that a material change in fact or law has occurred since the order

was filed; or (3) that there was a manifest failure by the court to

consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments previously

presented by plaintiff. Civ L R 7-9(b). US Airways argues that it

is entitled to file a motion for reconsideration because the court

manifestly failed to consider material facts and dispositive legal

arguments by relying on the declaration of John H Scurr, M D

(“Scurr”), an expert in DVT. Doc #70 in No 01-3444 at 4.

The challenged evidence is Scurr’s declaration that

“pressure of the back of the calfs [sic] and back of the knee from

seats has also been implicated in the development of deep vein

thrombosis.” In denying summary judgment, the court concluded that

a reasonable jury could find that the two-hour confinement was a

link in the causal chain leading to Rietschel’s injury. US Airways

argues first that the court failed to address earlier objections to

Scurr’s declaration. Doc #406 in No 04-1606 at 6. These

objections were to Scurr’s qualification to opine about the

procedures that air carriers could adopt – not to his qualification

to opine about the causes of DVT. The earlier objections to

Case 3:01-cv-03444-VRW Document 74 Filed 01/25/08 Page 2 of 3
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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Scurr’s declaration are immaterial to the evidence the court relied

upon here. The remainder of US Airways’s arguments are also

immaterial; basically, US Airways argues that Scurr did not

specifically state the cause of Rietschel’s injury and that, if he

did, the evidence would be inadmissible because Scurr never

examined Rietschel. That may be, but the evidence that the court

relied on in denying summary judgment was Scurr’s statement about

the general causes of DVT. From that evidence, the court held, a

reasonable jury could find that the two-hour confinement was a

cause of Rietschel’s injury.

US Airways has failed to show that the court manifestly

failed to consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments

that were presented to it in support of summary judgment. US

Airways’s motion for leave to file a motion for reconsideration is

DENIED.

SO ORDERED.

 

VAUGHN R WALKER

United States District Chief Judge

Case 3:01-cv-03444-VRW Document 74 Filed 01/25/08 Page 3 of 3