Law Commons^™

Allegheny Airlines, Inc. V. United States (Case Note), Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

Under Allegheny Airlines, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit held that a flying school/aircraft owner is engaged in a joint enterprise with its student pilots and is vicariously liable for the student’s negligent acts. This Court and others have developed the principle that the vicarious liability of an aircraft owner for the actions of the pilot is dependent upon the existence of a principal/agent relationship between the owner and pilot. Courts developed this legal fiction to enable recovery by injured parties against the financially responsible principal, rather than effectively denying recovery by forcing personal judgments against …