Lakomy v. United States

A Cessna entered the airspace near a commercial passenger jet. Air-traffic control picked up the Cessna on the radar. However, the two aircraft did not pose a collision risk, and air-traffic control did not immediately notify the jet that another aircraft was in the vicinity. As the Cessna and the jet moved closer together on roughly parallel, opposite tracks, the jet’s onboard traffic-collision avoidance system (TCAS) alerted the jet’s pilots that traffic was nearby and could potentially collide with the jet in 40 seconds. The jet’s pilots could not see the Cessna and did not know that the Cessna could collide with the jet only if it made an abrupt change of direction. The jet’s pilots attempted to contact air-traffic control to inquire about traffic, but another aircraft’s transmission cut off the attempted communication. A few seconds later, the jet’s TCAS instructed the pilots to descend to avoid the potential traffic. The pilots were trained to follow the TCAS instructions unless they could personally see the traffic, and the pilots could not visually identify the Cessna. However, instead of descending smoothly, the pilots engaged in abrupt and erratic flight maneuvers that caused several flight attendants (plaintiffs) to be flung into the jet’s walls and ceilings and suffer serious injuries. A few seconds later, air-traffic control told the jet’s pilots that a Cessna was nearby but that it did not pose a collision threat. The flight attendants sued the United States (defendant), claiming that their injuries had been caused by the air-traffic controllers’ negligent failure to notify the jet about the Cessna’s position sooner. The United States argued that the controllers’ actions were not negligent and had not proximately caused the injuries or, in the alternative, that the discretionary-function exception barred the claim. The trial court entered judgment for the flight attendants, and the United States appealed.