Ressler et al v. Boeing Company, Inc., The et al

Filing 157

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO CONSOLIDATE. The Unopposed Motion To Consolidate byDefendant United States of America 125 is GRANTED. Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a)(2) and D.C.COLO.LCivR 42.1, Fields v. United States, Civil Action No. 11-cv-03069-REB-KMT, a nd Vaziri v. United Sates, Civil Action No. 11-cv-03070-PAB-KMT are CONSOLIDATED with Civil Action No.10- cv-03050-REB-BNB for all purposes. Under D.C.COLO.LCivR 42.1, Civil Action No. 11-cv-03069-REB-KMT and Civil Action No. 11-cv-03070-PAB-KMT are REASSIGNED to United States Magistrate Judge Boyd N. Boland. By Judge Robert E. Blackburn on 2/21/2012.(sah, )

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Judge Robert E. Blackburn

Civil Action No. 10-cv-03050-REB-BNB
(Consolidated with Civil Action Nos. 10-cv-03051-REB-BNB, 11-cv-01832-REB-BNB,
11-cv-01874-REB-BNB, and 11-cv-02253-REB-BNB, 11-cv-02894-REB-BNB, 11-cv02895-REB-BNB)
REGINA RESSLER, and
RANDY RESSLER,
Plaintiffs,
v.
THE BOEING COMPANY, INC.,
BE AEROSPACE, INC., and
BURNS AEROSPACE CORPORATION,
Defendants.

Civil Action No. 11-cv-03069-REB-KMT
ARTHUR FIELDS, and
VALERIE FIELDS,
Plaintiffs,
v.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant.

Civil Action No. 11–cv–03070–PAB-KMT
RASHIDA VAZIRI, individually and as conservator of her minor daughters,
SOHA VAZIRI, and
ANAM VAZIRI,
IRFAN VAZIRI,
Plaintiffs,

v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO CONSOLIDATE
Blackburn, J.
The matter before me is the Unopposed Motion To Consolidate by
Defendant United States of America [#125]1 filed December 19, 2011. The motion
is granted.
The determination whether to consolidate cases is governed by Rule 42(a) of
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides, pertinently:
When actions involving a common question of law or fact are
pending before the court, it may order a joint hearing or trial
of any or all the matters in issue in the actions; it may order
all the actions consolidated; and it may make such orders
concerning proceedings therein as may tend to avoid
unnecessary costs or delay.
FED. R. CIV. P. 42(a).2 This rule allows the court “to decide how cases on its docket are
to be tried so that the business of the court may be dispatched with expedition and
economy while providing justice to the parties.” Breaux v. American Family Mutual
Insurance Co., 220 F.R.D. 366, 367 (D. Colo. 2004) (quoting 9 C. WRIGHT & A. MILLER,
1

“[#125]” is an example of the convention I use to identify the docket number assigned to a
specific paper by the court’s case management and electronic case filing system (CM/ECF). I use this
convention throughout this order.
2

As the district judge to whom the oldest numbered case involved in the proposed consolidation
is assigned for trial, the question whether to consolidate these matters falls to me for determination.
See D.C.COLO.LCivR 42.1.

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FEDERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 2381 at 427 (2nd ed. 1995)). The decision
whether to consolidate cases is committed to my sound discretion. Shump v. Balka,
574 F.2d 1341, 1344 (10th Cir. 1978).
The cases addressed in the motion to consolidate all arise from the crash of
Continental Airlines Flight 1404 at Denver International Airport on December 20, 2008.
The airplane crashed when it was attempting to takeoff. The cases previously
consolidated with Ressler v. Boeing, et al., Civil Action No. 10-cv-03050-REB-BNB all
concern, inter alia, products liability claims asserted against manufacturers involved in
the construction of the crash aircraft and/or the alleged negligence of the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) in relation to the crash. The Ressler plaintiffs allege that
the FAA was negligent when it failed to disseminate proper wind information to the pilots
of the crash aircraft just prior to the attempted takeoff of the crash aircraft. Based on
the FAA’s alleged negligence, the United States was added as a defendant after the
Ressler plaintiffs’ administrative claims concerning their negligence claim against the
United States were denied or deemed denied. Three cases previously consolidated
with the Ressler case involve negligence claims against the United States concerning
the crash of Flight 1404. The two cases that the United States now seeks to
consolidate with the Ressler case also involve negligence claims against the United
States concerning the crash of Flight 1404.
Common questions of law and fact predominate in these four cases such that
consolidation will be appropriate and efficacious. To the extent the product liability
claims in the Ressler case require treatment different from the FTCA claims against the

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United States, such different treatment can be accomplished in a consolidated case.
THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED as follows:
1. That the Unopposed Motion To Consolidate by Defendant United States
of America [#125] filed December 19, 2011, is GRANTED;
2. That under Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(a)(2) and D.C.COLO.LCivR 42.1, Fields v.
United States, Civil Action No. 11-cv-03069-REB-KMT, and Vaziri v. United Sates,
Civil Action No. 11-cv-03070-PAB-KMT are CONSOLIDATED with Civil Action No.10cv-03050-REB-BNB for all purposes;
3. That under D.C.COLO.LCivR 42.1, Civil Action No.11-cv-03070-PAB-KMT is
REASSIGNED to United States District Judge Robert E. Blackburn
4. That under D.C.COLO.LCivR 42.1, Civil Action No. 11-cv-03069-REB-KMT
and Civil Action No. 11-cv-03070-PAB-KMT are REASSIGNED to United States
Magistrate Judge Boyd N. Boland;
5. That all future filings in these consolidated actions shall be captioned as
shown below:

Civil Action No. 10-cv-03050-REB-BNB
(Consolidated with Civil Action Nos.10-cv-03051-REB-BNB, 11-cv-01832-REB-BNB, 11cv-01874-REB-BNB,11-cv-02253-REB-BNB, 11-cv-02894-REB-BNB, 11-cv-02895REB-BNB, 11-cv-03069-REB-BNB, and 11-cv-03070-REB-BNB)
REGINA RESSLER, and
RANDY RESSLER,
Plaintiffs,
v.

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THE BOEING COMPANY, INC.,
BE AEROSPACE, INC.,
BURNS AEROSPACE CORPORATION, and
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendants.

Dated February 21, 2012, at Denver, Colorado.
BY THE COURT:

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