Plaintiff's decedent was the First Officer on Northwest Flight 255, which crashed on takeoff at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on August 16, 1987. Plaintiff sued, inter alia, National Car Rental ("NCR") and Wayne County, which operates the airport, for allegedly contributing to the cause of the crash. These claims were stayed pending the resolution of claims between Northwest Airlines ("Northwest") and McDonnell Douglas Corporation regarding responsibility for the crash. A jury verdict that Northwest was responsible, and that the flight crew had engaged in willful and wanton misconduct, was affirmed by the Sixth Circuit.
The court granted NCR's motion for summary judgment on grounds of collateral estoppel based on the jury verdict against Northwest. Under federal law, collateral estoppel precludes relitigation if (1) the identical issue is involved, (2) there was a final decision on the merits of that issue, and (3) the party to be estopped was a party, or in privity with a party, to the prior litigation. The jury's finding that the flight crew engaged in willful and wanton misconduct was binding on Plaintiff, since the decedent was in privity with Northwest. Privity was found under the doctrine of "virtual representation," which requires an express or implied legal relationship in which parties to the first suit are accountable to non-parties. Factors to be weighed include close nonlitigating relationships, participation, apparent acquiescence, and deliberate maneuvering to avoid the effects of the first action. In addition, due process requires the party to be estopped to have had an identity or community of interest with, and adequate representation by, the losing party in the first action, a reasonable expectation to be bound, and a fair opportunity to pursue the claim. Northwest had an identity of interest based on respondeat superior, and vigorously disputed the liability of the flight crew. Plaintiff made a tactical decision to wait until after the Northwest trial to pursue his claims.
The court further granted Wayne County's motion for summary judgment on grounds of governmental immunity. Operation of the airport is a governmental function under MCLA §691.1407, and the proprietary function exception under MCLA §691.1413 did not apply. A proprietary function must (1) be conducted primarily for the purpose of producing a pecuniary profit, and (2) not normally be supported by taxes or fees. The airport is not operated to produce a profit, and is normally supported by taxes or fees.
Dodds v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., Civil Action No. 90-72192 (July 7, 1997) (Cook, J.) (Docket No. __, 16pp.).
This article was written by Ronald S. Longhofer, a partner in our Litigation Department, and previously appeared in the November 1997 edition of the Michigan Bar Journal.