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Area of Law: | Aviation & Transportation Law, Personal Injury & Negligence |
Keywords: | Pilot's negligence; Final decision; Duty of care |
Jurisdiction: | California |
Cited Cases: | 455 F.2d 222; 6 F.3d 572; 623 F.2d 104; 69 Cal. 2d 108 |
Cited Statutes: | Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a); 14 C.F.R § 91.3(a); 14 C.F.R. § 91.67(a) |
Date: | 02/01/2001 |
“[G]eneral negligence law applies to airplane tort cases.” Spaulding v. United States (9th Cir. 1972) 455 F.2d 222, 226. As a general rule, a person has a duty of care to avoid injury to others and may be held liable if his or her careless conduct injures another person. See Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) (“Everyone is responsible . . . for an injury occasioned to another by his want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his property or person, except so far as the latter has . . . by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself . . ..”); see also Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal. 2d 108, 112 (broad duty of care imposed by § 1714 embodies a fundamental public policy of California). Defendants argue that, contrary to § 1714, they owed no duty at all to Carl Henning because “[t]he pilot in command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of the aircraft.” 14 C.F.R § 91.3(a) (1997).
In Foss v. United States (9th Cir. 1980) 623 F.2d 104, the court rejected the argument that whenever there is a crash a pilot will always have been negligent as a matter of law because the pilot is always in a position of “final authority” and will therefore have violated 14 C.F.R. § 91.3(a). Id. at 106. Similarly, in In re Air Crash Near Cerritos, California (C.D. Cal. 1989) 23 Av. Cas. (CCH) 17,448, […]
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