Another Greenwashing Claim Dismissed as Preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act

Simijanovic v. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., 2024 WL 5059143 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 10, 2024)

The Eastern District of Michigan decision is in addition to several other federal court decisions dismissing greenwashing suits.

A federal court has dismissed a putative class action alleging a violation of consumer protection laws against an airline for its advertising promoting sustainability initiatives.

In Simijanovic v. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V., the plaintiff sued KLM in federal court in Michigan, claiming that KLM violated the Michigan Consumer Protection Act by exaggerating its environmental initiatives in its advertisements. The plaintiff contended that KLM highlighted its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement targets and portrayed its aircraft as “flying on biofuel,” even though the airline’s Climate Action Plan projections were inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and only 0.2 percent of the fuel KLM used was sustainable biojet fuel.

 The Court determined that the plaintiff’s claims were preempted under the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (the “ADA”). The ADA’s preemption clause prohibits states from passing or enforcing “a law, regulation, or other provision having the force and effect of law related to a price, route, or service of an air carrier.” 49 U.S.C. 41713.

The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim, stating that the “thrust of [the plaintiff’s] allegations is that KLM’s false advertising caused him to overpay for his flight,” which meant the ADA preempted the claim because it was related to rates.

 This is yet another greenwashing claim dismissed by a U.S. federal court on either standing or preemption grounds, including Zajac v. United Airlines, Inc., 2024 WL 3784535 (D. Md. Aug. 13, 2024), Long v. Koninklijke Luchvaart Maatschappij, N.V., 2024 WL 3938825 (E.D. Va. Aug. 26, 2024), and Dakus v. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, N.V., 2023 WL 5935694 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 12, 2023).

 However, in Berrin v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 2024 WL 3304815 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 28, 2024), a California federal court found that a greenwashing claim against an airline alleging breaches of consumer protection law was not preempted by the ADA because it had only a tenuous, remote, or peripheral connection to rates, routes, or services.