Maria Sanchez v. Compania Mexicana De Aviacion

MEMORANDUM

Sanchez filed suit, on behalf of herself and a proposed class, against Mexicana alleging it unlawfully charged and collected a Mexican tax when she purchased a ticket for a flight from California to Mexico. The district court granted summary judgment to Mexicana because Sanchez’s claims are preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, 49 U.S.C. § 41713 (b), fail to state a contract claim, are time-barred, and she lacks standing to bring the claims on her own behalf and on behalf of her proposed class. We agree the claims are time-barred and thus affirm on that basis; it is therefore unnecessary to reach the other issues presented.

The applicable statute of limitations is four years. Cal.Code Civ. P. § 337(1). Sanchez concedes she filed her complaint more than four years after she bought the ticket. “California courts have often stated the maxim that ‘in ordinary tort and contract actions, the statute of limitations begins to run upon the occurrence of the last element essential to the cause of action. The plaintiffs ignorance of the cause of action does not toll the statute.’ ” April Enters., Inc. v. KTTV, 147 Cal.App.3d 805 , 195 Cal.Rptr. 421, 432 (1983)…