First Circuit Says "What Part of Nonrefundable Did You Nonunderstand?"

Nonrefundable = not refundable.  Not refundable at all.

Yesterday, the First Circuit held that airline customers who bought nonrefundable tickets can't sue under state or federal law to recover the nonrefundable fares.  The outcome seems obvious, except that the court didn't rule on the claims' merits.  It instead concluded that federal law didn't provide a cause of action and that a federal statute (the Airline Deregulation Act) preempted state law claims.  See Buck v. Am. Airlines, Inc., No. 06-1625 (1st Cir. Feb. 7, 2007).

Senior Circuit Judge Selya, who wrote the panel's opinion, continued his streak of using words no one else has heard of -- including "pleochroic", "periphrastic", and "supererogatory".  Blawgletter will let you look them up yourself.  As Blawgletter had to do.

Barry Barnett

Never supererogatory.  Always free.