Elina Shaffy v. United Airlines, Inc

MEMORANDUM

Elina Shaffy appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of United Airlines as to her claims of discrimination under 42 U.S.C. § 2000d and 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and her various tort claims under California law. She alleges that she was discriminated against on the basis of her Iranian ethnicity. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm the district court’s decision.

We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. Lukovsky v. City and County of San Francisco, 535 F.3d 1044, 1047 (9th Cir.2008). In determining whether summary judgment was appropriate, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Nurre v. Whitehead, 580 F.3d 1087, 1092 (9th Cir.2009).

Air carriers are authorized to “refuse to transport a passenger or property the carrier decides is, or might be, inimical to safety.” 49 U.S.C. § 44902 (b). The. test for whether a refusal to transport is permissible “rests upon the facts and circumstances of the case as known to the airline at the time it formed its opinions and made its decision and whether or not the opinion and decision were rational and reasonable and not capricious or arbitrary.” Cordero…