MIAMI (Legal Newsline) – Attorneys for airline Insel International filed a motion to dismiss a man’s amended complaint over an airline tax, stating the amended complaint should still be dismissed for improper forum, lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.
“Plaintiff was afforded the opportunity to amend his original complaint, the amended complaint suffers from the same deficiencies as the original action, and, thus, this action must again be dismissed for the same five fundamental reasons,” the motion to dismiss states.
The motion to dismiss plaintiff Hector G. Saade’s amended complaint was filed on May 4 following Saade’s filing of his amended complaint in April.
Saade was given leave to amend his original complaint in March in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The March ruling issued by Judge Kathleen Williams stated Saade failed to state a proper claim for relief and failure to show how each defendant breached the contract and was liable.
Saade sued Insel International and Insel Aruba in September 2017 after he had to pay an $80 exit tax fee before boarding his 2015 flight from Miami to Aruba and Venezuela. Saade also seeks to certify a class of people who also were subjected to the $80 exit fee.
Insel International states Saade “improperly and deceptively commingles and intertwines the defendants and their alleged actions,” and the complaint should be dismissed “because he fails to establish a contractual relationship between himself and Insel International as a basis for his breach of contract claim,” the motion states.
Insel International claims that the Florida court has no jurisdiction, and “exercising jurisdiction over Insel International would be a clear violation of the due process clause.”
Insel states that Saade is bound by the terms of Cheapoair, the third-party website Saade purchased his flight tickets from, and if Saade “had a contractual relationship with anyone, it was with Cheapoair and possibly with Insel Aruba,” the motion states.
Insel International states that in the alternative, the proper forum would be Curacao, where most defendants live or do business in.
The motion states that the amended complaint is “void of any allegation or explanation as to why this court is the proper forum” because Saade contracted with Cheapoair, which has a forum selection clause mandating arbitration governed by New York law, and is time barred by a two-year statute of limitations.
The motion requests the court to dismiss Saade’s complaints with prejudice.
Insel is represented by Andres F. Fernandez of Berens, Fernandez & Associates PA in Coral Gables, Florida and others.
U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida case number 1:17-cv-22003-KMW