Curran
Curran v. National Transportation Appeals Board
Opinion
lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
John Curran has petitioned this court for review of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (“NTSB”) dismissal of his appeal of the 120-day suspension of his commercial pilot certificate. The NTSB dismissed Curran’s appeal because he did not file a timely appeal brief or provide good cause for untimeliness of his appeal brief. See 49 C.F.R. § 821.48 (a).
This court has recognized that the NTSB has a policy of “uniformly ... dismissing, absent a showing of good cause, any appeal when the party failed to file a timely notice of appeal, appellate brief, or request for extension.” Gilbert v. Nat’l Transp. Safety Bd., 80 F.3d 364, 368 (9th Cir.1996) (citing Adm’r v. Hooper, 6 N.T.S.B. 559 , 560 (1988)). Where the NTSB dismisses an appeal for failure to file a timely brief, this court’s jurisdiction is restricted (1) to deciding if the NTSB’s order dismissing an appeal as untimely was arbitrary or capricious, see 49 U.S.C. § 1153 (b)(4); and, if not, (2) to addressing a limited number of substantive issues, such as constitutional claims, raised on appeal that the NTSB could not have addressed. See Gilbert, 80 F.3d at 367-68 .