Judge Leonard Wexler
Precious metal refiner General Refining Corp. (GRC) uses Federal Express (FedEx)—a certified all-cargo airline ships its metals—to ship precious metals to customers throughout the United States. GRC’s putative class action charged FedEx with breaching their 2009 Declared Valuation Program contract—which superseded their prior 2006 agreement—by charging for insurance that FedEx did not provide and by failing to return some $1 million in perceived overpayments, that FedEx obtained over the past six years for excess insurance premiums that GRC paid for packages insured only for $1,000. The court denied FedEx summary judgment on its assertions that pursuant to Morales v. Trans World Airlines Inc. and American Airlines Inc. v. Wolens, GRC’s mistake claim was preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) and that its contract breach claim failed as a matter of law. The court found GRC’s claim of mistake as to what exactly the declared valuation fees were, and what coverage they provided, to be akin to contract claims concerning a private agreement rather than a state-imposed duty, and thus not preempted by the ADA. Fact issues precluded summary judgment on either the contract breach or mistake claim.
