Opinion ID: 3036693
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: further administrative proceedings

Text: As the district court put it, at the core of this case is a “bureaucratic snag.” Bureaucratic roadblock may be more apt. Jan’s and Americopters now find themselves in a sort of procedural limbo or netherworld, largely the making of the FAA —first insisting that it did not issue final orders, so as to avoid holding administrative hearings under its own regulations; then arguing that it did issue final orders for purposes of obtaining a dismissal for lack of jurisdiction before the district court; and now, before us, contending again that it did not issue final orders, thus depriving this court of jurisdiction. Jan’s and Americopters, to be sure, contributed to this mess by taking their own wrong turns in litigating this case, though their uncertainty is not unsurprising given the way the FAA addressed their claims. The procedural confusion began on September 19, 2002, when Jan’s and Americopters, sharing the same counsel, received one letter from FAA Regional Counsel Monroe Balton. He denied their respective requests for hearings under § 13.20(c) on the basis that the Zeigler Email and Kanae Letter were not actually orders issued by the FAA. Balton 2932 AMERICOPTERS v. FAA pointed to FAA regulations, which state that only the Administrator and specific FAA officers3 have the authority to issue an order under the FAA’s legal enforcement regulations (Subpart C of Part 13), at 14 C.F.R. §§ 13.13-13.29. Since neither Zeigler nor Kanae had the authority to issue grounding or cease-and-desist orders, “[n]o such orders were issued.” Thus, according to Balton, without orders to challenge, Jan’s and Americopters were not entitled to hearings under § 13.20(c). It is necessary to pause and emphasize how much the Balton Letter exacerbated the difficult situation already created by the Zeigler Email and Kanae Letter. Jan’s and Americopters had stopped their respective flight operations at the behest of FAA officials. By relying upon the dictates of FAA employees as the official word of the FAA, Jan’s claimed to have defaulted on a contract because of the Zeigler Email, and Americopters allegedly lost business running helicopter tours by complying with the Kanae Letter. But then came the Balton Letter, which told Jan’s and Americopters that, officially, the FAA had issued no orders and had done nothing at all, and that any harm was self-inflicted. The FAA turned an old legal maxim on its head, telling Jan’s and Americopters: no foul, no harm. At this point, Jan’s and Americopters made their own contribution to the procedural morass. They both submitted complaints under 14 C.F.R. § 13.5 to the FAA’s Chief Counsel alleging that Zeigler and Kanae had acted outside of the scope of their employment. They filed these complaints even though 3 See FAA Order 2150.3A para. 1209(b). The substance of this FAA order is contained in FAA regulations. Compare 14 C.F.R. § 13.20(l) (“[T]he authority of the Administrator under this section is also exercised by the Chief Counsel, Deputy Chief Counsel, each Assistant Chief Counsel, each Regional Counsel, and the Aeronautical Center Counsel . . . .”) with § 13.20(a) (“This section applies to orders of compliance, cease and desist orders, orders of denial, and other orders issued by the Administrator to carry out the provisions of the Federal Aviation Act”) (emphasis added). AMERICOPTERS v. FAA 2933 the Balton letter had preemptively discouraged them from doing so, indicating that the § 13.5 procedures could not be used to challenge the actions of FAA employees taken within the scope of their employment. On November 22, 2002, the FAA denied Jan’s § 13.5 request, noting that Zeigler had acted within the scope of his employment with the FAA. The FAA also took the position that the Zeigler Email was not an order, and that Zeigler was not responsible for the Guam Airport’s decision to ground Jan’s Caribou. On December 7, 2002, the FAA wrote to Americopters, noting that it was considering whether a § 13.5 hearing was in order and promising to send a final reply in a week. Despite follow-up inquiries, Americopters received no other response to its request for a § 13.5 hearing.