Charles E. Gene Smith and Joan Smith v. America West Airlines, Inc. And Connie Lynn Weaver

EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents the question whether 49 U.S.CApp. § 1305(a)(1), the express preemption section of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, preempts a state law claim for negligence and gross negligence relating to the airline’s alleged failure to prevent a would-be hijacker from boarding an airplane as a passenger. The district court, relying on our then-binding precedent, held that the plaintiffs’ causes of action were preempted and dismissed the complaint. Our analysis of the preemptive scope of § 1305(a)(1) has significantly changed in the companion en banc…