SCOTX Tells Fifth Circ. Deadline-Tolling Statute Applies in Flight Attendants’ Boeing Suit

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday answered two certified questions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and in doing so revived the personal injury claims of two flight attendants who suffered on-the-job injuries in January 2017.

The Fifth Circuit had asked the state’s high court to interpret Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 16.064, which flight attendants Marvin Sanders and Matthew Sodrok argued was a jurisdiction-saving statute that would enable them to still bring their lawsuit against The Boeing Company and two other entities over injuries sustained while they were staffing a flight. Sanders and Sodrok argued a district court wrongly dismissed their case for exceeding the statute of limitations despite an exception that should have saved their claims found within section 16.064.