## Facts

- Stephen Coleman and Hardy Lebel, experienced pilots, were practicing takeoffs and landings in a Cessna 180 at Westerly State Airport in Rhode Island.
- Brooks Kay rented a Piper PA-28-181 from Windham Aviation, Inc., the aircraft’s owner/lessor, and departed from Connecticut intending to land at Westerly.
- Kay aborted his first landing attempt on Runway 32 due to being high on final approach.
- On Kay’s second approach, he saw the Cessna near Runway 32 and continued, believing it would remain on the displaced threshold until after he landed.
- The Cessna attempted takeoff; the Piper and Cessna collided on Runway 32.
- The Cessna crashed; Coleman and Lebel were fatally injured. Kay landed the Piper; Kay and his passengers were uninjured.
- Christine Coleman, individually and as representative of estates and a minor, brought a wrongful-death action alleging defendants’ negligence, including Kay’s operation of the Piper.
- Windham had provided Kay liability coverage through the rental arrangement and carried corporate liability insurance.

## Issues

1. Whether Rhode Island law imposes vicarious liability on an aircraft owner/lessor for the negligence of an authorized lessee-pilot operating the aircraft.
2. Whether 49 U.S.C. § 44112 preempts or otherwise bars state-law vicarious liability imposed solely by reason of aircraft ownership.

## Decision

- The court granted the plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment on vicarious liability.
- The court held that, if a jury finds Kay negligent and a proximate cause of the collision, Windham is vicariously liable under Rhode Island law based on its ownership and authorization of Kay’s operation.
- The court rejected Windham’s argument that 49 U.S.C. § 44112 preempted Rhode Island’s owner-liability statute in this context.
- The ruling resolved only the legal question of Windham’s vicarious liability; negligence, causation, and damages remained for trial.

## Legal Principles

- Where a state statute assigns liability to an aircraft owner for negligence of an authorized operator, ownership plus authorization can establish vicarious liability as a matter of law.
- Federal preemption of state tort liability is disfavored absent clear congressional intent, particularly in areas traditionally regulated by states such as wrongful-death and tort compensation.
- 49 U.S.C. § 44112 was construed not to clearly displace state-law rules imposing vicarious liability on aircraft owners for authorized lessee-pilots’ negligence.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that Rhode Island law makes an aircraft owner/lessor vicariously liable for an authorized renter-pilot’s negligence, and that 49 U.S.C. § 44112 did not preempt that state-law allocation of liability; accordingly, Windham’s vicarious liability was established for trial purposes if Kay is found negligent.


Coleman v. Windham Aviation, Inc., No. K.C. 2004-0985, 2005 WL 1793907 (R.I. Super. Ct. Aug. 18, 2005)