In the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

August Term, 2021

No. 20-2951 BRENDA JONES, AS CO-ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN DAVID HORTMAN, JILL HORTMAN MORRIS, AS CO-ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF JOHN DAVID HORTMAN,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

ADALIA LEE REDD, INDIVIDUALLY AND CO-ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ESTATE OF STEVEN BURTON REDD, DEZARAY REDD, INDIVIDUALLY, JAZLYN REDD, INDIVIDUALLY AND CO-ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ESTATE OF STEVEN BURTON REDD, TRYSTYN REDD, INDIVIDUALLY,

Consolidated-Plaintiffs-Appellants,

v.

GOODRICH PUMP & ENGINE CONTROL SYSTEMS, INC., ROLLS-ROYCE CORP.,

Consolidated-Defendants-Appellees,

L-3 COMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION, L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS, INC.,

Consolidated-Defendants, GOODRICH CORPORATION, ROLLS-ROYCE NORTH AMERICA, INC., MD HELICOPTERS, INC., L3 COMMUNICATIONS INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, LP, ALLISON ENGINE COMPANY, INC., BOEING CO.,

Defendants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut No. 12-cv-1297

(Argued February 23, 2022; Decided November 21, 2023) Before: LIVINGSTON, Chief Judge, KEARSE and LEE, Circuit Judges.

Plaintiffs-Appellants appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Eginton, J.) granting summary judgment against them on the grounds that their state law tort claims are barred by implied field preemption flowing from the Federal Aviation Act. Plaintiffs-Appellants argue that the Federal Aviation Act’s preempted field does not include military aircrafts like the one to which their suit pertains. Applying ordinary principles of statutory interpretation, we agree. We therefore VACATE AND REMAND.

TEJINDER SINGH, Goldstein & Russel, P.C., Bethesda, Maryland (Ronald L.M. Goldman, Timothy A. Loranger, Crawford Appleby, Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, PC, Los Angeles, California, Arthur Alan Wolk, The Wolk Law Firm, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John J. Gagliano, Gagliano Law Offices, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the brief), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

JOHN W. CERRETA (James H. Rotondo, Andraya P. Brunau, Day Pitney LLP, 2 Hartford, Connecticut, Thomas R. Pantino, Fitzpatrick & Hunt, Pagano Aubert, LLP, New York, New York, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee Goodrich Pump & Engine Control Systems, Inc.

J. DENNY SHUPE (Robert J. Williams, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Steven E. Arnold, SA Law, P.C., Boston, Massachusetts, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee Rolls-Royce Corporation.

Jeffrey R. White, American Association for Justice, Washington, D.C.; Justin T. Green, Ant