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Abdikarim Karrani v. JetBlue Airways Corporation

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 19-35739 · judgment October 16, 2020

Certiorari denied · June 21, 2021

Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

49 U.S.C. § 44092(b) provides that an air carrier “may refuse to transport a passenger or property the carrier decides is, or might be, inimical to safety.” 49 U.S.C. § 40127(a) provides that an air carrier “may not subject a person in air transportation to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry.” Under current case law, the protections of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 are effectively unavailable to victims of discrimination who fly commercially, owing to judge-made limitations created interpreting 49 U.S.C. § 44092(b). The questions presented are:

Is 49 U.S.C. § 44092(b) inapplicable to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 cases?
Should the “cat’s paw” analysis of Staub v. Proctor Hosp., 562 U.S. 411 (2011) be applied to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 cases where a pilot acts without further inquiry on reports from subordinates motivated by discrimination?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John P. Sheridan
The Sheridan Law Firm

For respondent
Mathew Lane Harrington
Stokes Lawrence, P.S.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

Jun 21 2021
Petition DENIED.
Jun 01 2021
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/17/2021.
May 26 2021
Waiver of right of respondent JetBlue Airways Corporation to respond filed.
Apr 26 2021
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due May 28, 2021)