Federal Appellate & Reported Aviation Decisions

Katzman Lampert & Stoll concentrates nationally in aviation accident litigation and related federal regulatory matters.
The representative decisions below reflect published federal appellate and reported district court opinions involving aviation product liability,
airline litigation, coordinated crash proceedings, insurance disputes, and government liability matters.

This page is provided as an authority reference. It does not describe outcomes or results.


How to Use This Page

  • Primary sources are linked where available (court PDFs or court-hosted opinion files).
  • Neutral repositories (e.g., Justia, Law Resource) are used when a court-hosted PDF is unavailable.
  • Entries are grouped by doctrinal category to reflect how aviation matters are evaluated and litigated.
  • Some appellate entries reflect partner prior-firm experience and are included to document counsel-of-record appellate history.

Related resources:
Aviation Accident Litigation,
Complex Aviation Litigation Methodology,
Federal Preemption & Aviation Product Liability,
How the NTSB Investigates.




Federal Appellate Aviation Decisions

Published appellate decisions provide a durable record of federal legal issues in aviation cases, including preemption, product liability standards, carrier obligations, insurance allocation, and coordinated disaster litigation.

DecisionCourtDatePrimary SourceCategory
Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 907 F.3d 7013d Cir.Oct. 25, 2018Court PDFProduct Liability / Federal Preemption
Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 822 F.3d 6803d Cir.Apr. 19, 2016JustiaProduct Liability / Federal Preemption
In re Air Crash Off Long Island, New York, 209 F.3d 2002d Cir.Mar. 29, 2000JustiaMDL / Disaster Litigation
Bitler v. White Rodgers, 400 F.3d 122710th Cir.Dec. 6, 2004Law ResourceProduct Liability
Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Durango Air Serv., Inc., 283 F.3d 122210th Cir.Mar. 15, 2002JustiaAviation Insurance
Mullan v. Quickie Aircraft Corp., 797 F.2d 84510th Cir.July 21, 1986JustiaProduct Liability
North American Specialty Ins. Co. v. Myers, 111 F.3d 12736th Cir.Apr. 16, 1997JustiaAviation Insurance
Day v. SkyWest Airlines, 45 F.4th 118110th Cir.Aug. 22, 2022JustiaAirline Litigation
Agostini v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 729 F.3d 3503d Cir.Sept. 5, 2013Court PDFProduct Liability (Partner prior-firm appellate history)
Robinson v. Hartzell Propeller, Inc., 454 F.3d 1633d Cir.July 6, 2006JustiaProduct Liability (Partner prior-firm appellate history)



Reported Aviation Product Liability Decisions

Product liability opinions in aviation matters commonly address design-defect standards, causation proof, regulatory evidence, and the interaction between FAA certification and state tort claims.

Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 876 F. Supp. 2d 479 (M.D. Pa. 2012)Court PDF
Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 45 F. Supp. 3d 431 (M.D. Pa. 2014)PDF
Sikkelee v. AVCO Corp., 268 F. Supp. 3d 660 (M.D. Pa. 2017)Justia
Hinkle v. Continental Motors, Inc., 268 F. Supp. 3d 1312 (M.D. Fla. 2017)Justia
Rickert v. Mitsubishi Heavy Indus., Ltd., 923 F. Supp. 1453 (D. Wyo. 1996)Justia



Airline & International Carriage Litigation

Airline and international carriage cases often involve federal treaty frameworks, carrier duties, jurisdictional questions, and threshold issues that shape venue and available remedies.

Price v. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, 107 F. Supp. 2d 1365 (N.D. Ga. 2000)Justia
Bobian v. CSA Czech Airlines, 232 F. Supp. 2d 319 (D.N.J. 2002)Justia
Morgan v. United Air Lines, Inc., 750 F. Supp. 1046 (D. Colo. 1990)Justia



MDL & Coordinated Aviation Disaster Proceedings

Coordinated disaster proceedings consolidate multi-party aviation cases to manage common discovery and motion practice, including allocation of federal jurisdictional and evidentiary issues at scale.

In re Air Crash at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, 776 F. Supp. 316 (E.D. Mich. 1991)Justia
In re Air Crash Disaster Near Honolulu, Hawaii, 783 F. Supp. 1261 (N.D. Cal. 1992)Justia
Matter of Colorado Springs Air Crash, 867 F. Supp. 630 (N.D. Ill. 1994)Justia



Aviation Insurance Coverage Litigation

Aviation insurance disputes frequently determine the allocation of defense and indemnity across policies, insureds, and aviation operations—issues that often shape litigation structure and settlement dynamics.

Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Durango Air Serv., Inc., 283 F.3d 1222 (10th Cir. 2002)Justia
North American Specialty Ins. Co. v. Myers, 111 F.3d 1273 (6th Cir. 1997)Justia



Government Liability / FTCA Aviation Matters

Government liability aviation cases typically involve threshold jurisdictional questions, standards of care in air traffic and federal operations, and the application of statutory waivers and exceptions.

Knous v. United States, 183 F. Supp. 3d 1279 (N.D. Ga. 2016)Justia

Notes on Scope

Selective list. This page is representative and does not include every aviation matter handled by the firm or its attorneys.

Published only. Unpublished decisions and non-aviation matters are excluded.

No outcomes. Entries do not describe results, recoveries, or settlements.

Verification. Citations and links are provided for reference and public-access verification.


Updated periodically; sources are primary opinions or neutral repositories.

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