Airline Service Providers Assoc. v. Los Angeles World Airports

The City of Los Angeles, which operates Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), can require businesses at the airport to accept certain contractual conditions aimed at preventing service disruptions. The City licenses service providers using a contract that imposes certain conditions. One such condition, section 25, requires service providers to enter a "labor peace agreement" with any employee organization that requests one. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part the dismissal of an action by two air transport trade associations. The panel held that ASPA meet all the requirements for associational standing; the City was acting as a market participant and not a regulator when it adopted section 25; and, because nothing in the National Labor Relations Act, the Railway Labor Act, and the Airline Deregulation Act shows that Congress meant to preempt states or local governments from actions taken while participating in markets in a non-regulatory capacity, section 25 was not preempted by those federal statutes. The court also held that the district court erred by denying leave to amend the complaint for plaintiffs to identify large spillover effects that might substantiate their claim that section 25 acted as a regulation. View "Airline Service Providers Assoc. v. Los Angeles World Airports" on Justia Law