USAPA President's Message

On Friday, July 11th, Judge Martin Reidinger issued a decision dismissing USAPA’s cause of action against AWAPPA and its co-defendants under the RICO act.  Due to fact that USAPA’s RICO claim was its sole cause of action under federal law, the federal judge dismissed the remaining state law claims “without prejudice so that these claims may be re-filed in the appropriate state court.”

President’s Message
Sunday, July 13, 2008

 
Fellow Pilots, On Friday, July 11th, Judge Martin Reidinger issued a decision dismissing USAPA’s cause of action against AWAPPA and its co-defendants under the RICO act.  Due to fact that USAPA’s RICO claim was its sole cause of action under federal law, the federal judge dismissed the remaining state law claims “without prejudice so that these claims may be re-filed in the appropriate state court.” USAPA originally elected to pursue a federal RICO claim because of the special remedies that are available under that statute, including treble damages and attorney’s fees. It is notable that, as described in our posting on June 24th, AWAPPA’s Motion to Dismiss actually assumed the truth of USAPA's allegations. Judge Reidinger concluded that, while the alleged facts supported a finding that the defendants were engaged in a criminal conspiracy to destroy USAPA property, two technical requirements relating to RICO and the Hobbs act were not satisfied. In view of his dismissal of USAPA’s sole federal cause of action, Judge Reidinger determined that the nine state law causes of action alleged in the complaint would be more appropriately adjudicated in a state court.  These state law causes of action include counts of civil conspiracy, trespass to chattels, defamation, tortious interference with contractual relations, and a count under the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. USAPA must now determine whether to appeal the district court’s decision and/or file a complaint “in the appropriate state court.”  The Association’s decision – and the pace at which any future litigation proceeds – will be heavily influenced both by the level of criminal sabotage activity and the defendants’ commitment to refrain from such activity in the future. USAPA is happy to report that the weeks following the filing of the lawsuit saw a significant drop off in telephonic and electronic sabotage. Unfortunately to date, the defendants have uniformly declined to make a binding commitment to refrain from the use of criminal and otherwise unlawful tactics in the future. USAPA has several options which the BPR will now consider and we will pass that information on to you as soon as it is available. Sincerely, Stephen Bradford
President, US Airline Pilots Association