Boston-Maine Airways Corp. v. United States Department of Transportation
Opinion of the Court
JUDGMENT
This case was considered on the record from the Department of Transportation, National Transportation Safety Board and on the briefs filed by the parties pursuant to D.C. Circuit Rule 34(j). It is
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the petition for review is denied.
The Department of Transportation must find an airline “fit, willing, and able” to provide air transportation service before
Boston-Maine argues that Nadolny acted without any knowledge on the part of other corporate officers and that it was reasonable for those other officers to rely entirely on his accounts of the regulatory proceedings as a means of oversight. Our review of this dispute is deferential, however: the Department’s factual findings are conclusive if supported by substantial evidence, 49 U.S.C. § 46110(c), and its decision must be affirmed unless arbitrary or capricious. E.g., Pub. Citizen, Inc. v. FAA, 988 F.2d 186, 196-97 (D.C.Cir. 1993). And indeed, we see nothing arbitrary or capricious in the Department’s decision. Under Department precedent, “[k]ey personnel may be held accountable for compliance problems even if they do not have actual knowledge of the problems, if they should have known of the carrier’s safety and compliance deficiencies.” ATX, Inc., 1994 DOT Av. LEXIS 174, at *17-18. Boston-Maine admits that its general counsel defrauded the Department over a period of more than two years, and that the Department reproduced the falsified financial information in two orders. The airline also itself argued before the agency that the certification proceedings were “bitterly contested,” Objections & Comments of Boston-Maine Airways Corp. at 2, Boston-Maine Airways Corp., No. OST-OO-7668, 2008 WL 5450336 (Dep’t of Transp. decided Apr. 29, 2008), and that its “two most senior owners and officers were not disinterested or uninvolved in [the] proceeding — they were riveted by it, and closely followed every development in it on a regular basis and sometimes on a daily basis,” id. at 24. Having conceded these facts, Boston-Maine gives us no reason to question the ultimate conclusion of the Department’s well-reasoned, 19-page order: namely, that senior management either failed to follow the proceedings closely or competently enough to determine that the Department was relying on manifestly inaccurate financial data from the airline, or that senior management were aware that the Department was misled about Boston-Maine’s financial soundness and chose to allow the deception to continue. See Show Cause Order at 16-18, Boston-Maine, No. OST-OO-7668, 2008 WL 5450292; Order Revoking Certificate at 6, Boston-Maine, No. OST-OO-7668, 2008 WL 5450336.
Pursuant to D.C. Circuit Rule 36, this disposition will not be published. The Clerk is directed to withhold issuance of the mandate herein until seven days after resolution of any timely petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc. See Fed. R.App. P. 41(b); D.C. Cm. R. 41.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BOSTON-MAINE AIRWAYS CORPORATION v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
- Status
- Published