Opinion ID: 488008
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutional and Common Law Claims

Text: 45 Appellant alleges that the USAir exclusionary seating policy violates the Fifth Amendment due process clause and its equal protection component, the commerce clause, and his right to travel. As the district court opinion capably analyzes these claims, the discussion here will be brief. 46 We agree with Judge Harris that the Fifth Amendment claim fails because USAir, a private corporation, is not a state actor. Anderson v. CAB, 619 F.Supp. at 1196. USAir is not transformed into a government actor by regulation, cf. Blum v. Yaretsky, 457 U.S. 991, 1007-08, 1009-10, 102 S.Ct. 2777, 2787-88, 2788-89, 73 L.Ed.2d 534 (1982) (private nursing home); government certification, cf. id. at 1004-05, 102 S.Ct. at 2785-86; receipt of federal or state assistance, cf. Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U.S. 830, 840 (1982) (privately operated school); or by the intervention of FAA police to remove appellant from the airplane, cf. Dahlberg v. Becker, 748 F.2d 85, 92-93 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1084, 105 S.Ct. 1845, 85 L.Ed.2d 144 (1985) (action of sheriff not sufficient for state action). 47 We also reject appellant's suggestion that the amalgam of contacts between USAir and the government, even if insufficient taken separately, transforms the airline into a state actor, citing Burton v. Wilmington Parking Auth., 365 U.S. 715, 81 S.Ct. 856, 6 L.Ed.2d 45 (1961). In that case, a private restaurant had leased space in a building owned and occupied by an agency of the state. In a holding explicitly limited to the facts, id. at 726, 81 S.Ct. at 862, the Court found that [t]he State has so far insinuated itself into a position of interdependence with [the restaurant] that it must be recognized as a joint participant in the challenged [discriminatory] activity.... Id. at 725, 81 S.Ct. at 862. Whereas the restaurant operated as an integral part of a public building devoted to a public parking service, id. at 724, 81 S.Ct. at 861, USAir has not undertaken to perform a service for the government or entered into a symbiotic relationship with the government. The requisite interdependence is not reached here. 48 Absent state or federal action, appellant's remaining constitutional claims must be rejected. Appellant never sought to connect the seating policy to actions of a state government, but even if he had so shown, commerce is not impermissibly burdened when the restriction applies to only two of twenty-two rows. In fact, the actual thrust of appellant's case presumes the policy derived from federal involvement in the operation of the airline industry. But as to the federal government, it is well established that a policy intimately related to interstate air travel would not exceed the scope of the commerce clause. See generally Morgan v. Virginia, 328 U.S. 373, 380, 66 S.Ct. 1050, 1054, 90 L.Ed. 1317 (1946) (distinguishing between state burdening of commerce and congressional authority to legislate). Nor would we find on the merits that appellant was denied the right to travel as seats were offered on both flights in non-emergency rows.
49 Appellant alleges USAir committed the tort of outrage, breached its contract of transportation, and by its policy and actions violated a common law obligation ... to provide equal and courteous service to all. Complaint at 3; Supplemental Appendix for Appellee at 3. 50 The district court found that appellant had not alleged facts sufficient to show conduct so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 46 comment d (1965). There is no basis for concluding that this finding was improper. 51 Anderson cites no specific contract term or condition as being in breach. USAir's Terms of Transportation permit removal of a passenger who attempts to interfere with a flight crew's duties or jeopardizes the safety or comfort of other passengers. Liability is limited to a ticket refund, which was duly given to appellant. 52 A state law obligation to give courteous service, even if applicable in the instant case, is expressly preempted by a 1978 amendment to the Federal Aviation Act, which in pertinent part states: 53 [N]o State or political subdivision thereof ... shall enact or enforce any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provision having the force and effect of law relating to rates, routes, or services of any air carrier having authority under subchapter IV of this chapter to provide air transportation. 54 49 U.S.C. app. Sec. 1305(a)(1) (Supp. III 1985) (emphasis added) (amending 49 U.S.C. app. Sec. 1305(a)(1) (1982) (substituting air transportation for interstate air transportation)); see also Hingson, 743 F.2d at 1415-16 (claim based on state law entitling blind persons to full and equal access preempted by Aviation Act).