Andrews v. United Airlines, Inc.

Opinion by Judge KOZINSKI.

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge.

We are called upon to determine whether United Airlines took adequate measures to deal with that elementary notion of physics— what goes up, must come down. For, while the skies are friendly enough, the ground can be a mighty dangerous place when heavy objects tumble from overhead compartments.

I

During the mad scramble that usually follows hard upon an airplane’s arrival at the gate, a briefcase fell from an overhead compartment and seriously injured plaintiff Billie Jean Andrews. No one knows who opened the compartment or what caused the…