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.
This page summarizes selected federal appellate and other reported decisions addressing aviation accident litigation and aircraft product liability. The cases listed here are frequently cited in aviation accident litigation and are presented as a reference resource for researchers, journalists, and attorneys.
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.
| Decision | Court | Date | Primary Source | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 907 F.3d 701 | 3d Cir. | Oct. 25, 2018 | Court PDF | Product Liability / Federal Preemption |
| Sikkelee v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 822 F.3d 680 | 3d Cir. | Apr. 19, 2016 | Justia | Product Liability / Federal Preemption |
| In re Air Crash Off Long Island, New York, 209 F.3d 200 | 2d Cir. | Mar. 29, 2000 | Justia | MDL / Disaster Litigation |
| Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Durango Air Serv., Inc., 283 F.3d 1222 | 10th Cir. | Mar. 15, 2002 | Justia | Aviation Insurance |
| Mullan v. Quickie Aircraft Corp., 797 F.2d 845 | 10th Cir. | July 21, 1986 | Justia | Product Liability |
| North American Specialty Ins. Co. v. Myers, 111 F.3d 1273 | 6th Cir. | Apr. 16, 1997 | Justia | Aviation Insurance |
| Day v. SkyWest Airlines, 45 F.4th 1181 | 10th Cir. | Aug. 22, 2022 | Justia | Airline Litigation |
| Agostini v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 729 F.3d 350 | 3d Cir. | Sept. 5, 2013 | Court PDF | Product Liability (Partner prior-firm appellate history) |
| Robinson v. Hartzell Propeller, Inc., 454 F.3d 163 | 3d Cir. | July 6, 2006 | Justia | Product 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.
Reported product liability decisions include matters addressing certification evidence, federal preemption, and the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA).
| 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) | |
| Sikkelee v. AVCO Corp., 268 F. Supp. 3d 660 (M.D. Pa. 2017) |
Opinion (public source) |
| Hinkle v. Continental Motors, Inc., 268 F. Supp. 3d 1312 (M.D. Fla. 2017) |
Opinion (public source) |
| Rickert v. Mitsubishi Heavy Indus., Ltd., 923 F. Supp. 1453 (D. Wyo. 1996) | Justia |
| Rickert v. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., 929 F. Supp. 380 (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.
For discussion of coordinated litigation structure and federal statutory issues arising from the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800, see TWA Flight 800: Fuel Tank Explosion Litigation and DOHSA Interpretation.
| 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.
In Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Durango Air Serv., Inc., 283 F.3d 1222 (10th Cir. 2002), the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit addressed interpretation of per-person and per-occurrence limitations in an aviation liability policy following a fatal aircraft accident. The court analyzed the policy’s plain language and clarified the applicable limits governing indemnification obligations. The decision reflects how aviation insurance policy construction may materially affect recovery structure and allocation among claimants in aircraft accident litigation.
| 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) |
Opinion (public source) |
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.
This page is periodically updated to reflect significant reported aviation accident decisions. Researchers and journalists covering aviation accident litigation are welcome to reference this summary with attribution.
- Aviation Accident Litigation
- Private and Corporate Aircraft Accident Litigation
- Military & Government Contractor Aviation Litigation
- Complex Aviation Litigation Methodology
- NTSB Investigations & Civil Aviation Claims
- Federal Preemption in Aviation Product Liability
- Defeating GARA Defenses in Aviation Product Liability Litigation
- For Families
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