John Espinal v. Northwest Airlines Larry Nunan Joel Krueger Susan Jordan

Plaintiff-appellant John Espinal (“Espi-nal”) appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his claims based on preemption under the Railway Labor Act (“RLA”). 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. Defendant-appellee Northwest Airlines (“Northwest”) terminated Espinal when it discovered he had diabetes. Espinal, who was employed pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”), filed suit in state court alleging claims for disability discrimination and breach of contract and the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Following removal, the district court dismissed all of Espinal’s claims, finding that the entire action was preempted under the RLA. Two weeks after the district court ruled, the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of RLA preemption. Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. v. Norris, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 2239 , 129 L.Ed.2d 203 (1994). In this appeal, we must reexamine the district court’s decision and our RLA-preemption precedent in light of Norris .

We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . For the reasons stated below, we conclude that Espinal’s disability discrimination claims are not preempted, and therefore reverse as to those claims. We affirm with respect to…