Introduction
The admissibility of NTSB fact reports at trial is a key issue for aviation lawyers. The aviation accident defense lawyer must know how the NTSB works and what the relevant authorities are related to the admissibility of the various reports that the NTSB creates. Aviation defense lawyers must also know what arguments plaintiffs are likely to make in a case where the factual reports prepared by the NTSB under the party system it employs, are unfavorable. The aviation defense lawyer must be properly schooled on NTSB agency procedure, the party system, the enabling legislation, and the federal statutes that outline the NTSB mandate and system.
Finally, the aviation defense lawyer must know the local rules of evidence typically implicated in what is usually a hard fought battle to admit one or more of what may be the many NTSB group fact reports. This is extremely important for the aviation defense lawyer to understand in jurisdiction like Portland, Oregon, where state court is generally very plaintiff-friendly. Most state court judges do not have experience presiding over cases where a federal agency, let alone a federal agency as unique and specialized such as the NTSB, plays such a central role.
The NTSB Mandate
The NTSB s a unique federal agency. It is not a federal executive branch agency, but rather is a congressionally chartered, completely independent agency. The NTSB has a single aviation mandate: to investigate every aviation (and other forms of transportation such as rail, ferry, bus, subway) accident in the Unites States; to determine the probable cause of the accident; and to make recommendations to help protect against future accidents. 49 U.S.C. §§ 1131, 1132, 1135. See also Chiron Corp. v. NTSB, 198 F.3d 935, 938 (D.C. Cir. 1999). An NTSB investigation is “not conducted for the purpose of determining the rights or liabilities of any person. Board regulations and policies are explicit in providing that parties participating in an investigation are involved in NTSB processes only to assist the safety mission and not to prepare for litigation.” Id. (quotation marks and alterations omitted).
Under the NTSB investigative system discussed below, the operational and investigative methods of the NTSB result in the production of numerous so-called group chairman’s reports, which are intended to be factual in nature. These are typically referred to as the NTSB “fact reports”. At the end of the investigation, the NTSB board members may conduct a hearing during which the NTSB group chairs who lead the groups who authored the factual reports may testify.
When the investigation is complete, the Investigator In Charge (“IIC”) of the investigation issues a final report that contains conclusions and a finding of probable cause, which is then released to the public after adoption by the NTSB board members. Although discussed in further detail below, 49 U.S.C. § 1154(b) prohibits the use of the final probable cause report prepared by the Board itself, as distinguished from it staff’s factual accident reports.
The NTSB Party System and Factual Report Process
For major aviation accidents, the NTSB typically sends a “Go Team”, one of several that the NTSB maintains in readiness so that they can typically leave within hours to go to the site of an accident and immediately begin investigating. Rachel G. Clingman, LITIGTING THE AVIATION CASE FROM PRE-TRIAL TO CLOSIING ARUMENT 385 (Andrew J. Harakas ed., 3rd ed. 2008). The NTSB then designates an IIC to oversee the full investigation. Id. The NTSB and the IIC then nominate parties to participate in the investigation, and organizes themselves and the participating parties into different investigatory groups. Id.
Each group investigates specific factors related to the accident, including operations, survival factors, meteorology, airworthiness, and aircraft performance. Id. Each group is headed by a chairperson who drafts a factual accident report regarding his or her subject matter that is submitted to the IIC. Id. The IIC submits the various chairperson factual accident reports to the NTSB, which then uses these reports to prepare the final Board accident report Id. at 385-86. Typically, but not always, the Board issues its final report very shortly after the final public hearing, if one is held.
Since aviation crashes can lead to incredibly complicated investigations and require countless individuals with extremely deep experience in sometimes unusual and unique skills including sound spectrum, meteorology, survival factors, CVR and FDR data recovery, aviation operations, metallurgy, airworthiness, crashworthiness, and a host of other factors, the NTSB investigation and reporting process is essential for the aviation defense lawyer to understand. As noted above, the depth of this investigatory process is typically something most state court judges are not very familiar with. The parties who are nominated to participate by the NTSB sign declarations attesting that they will not use or shape the information obtained during the investigation as advocates for their employers, who are often stakeholders in the investigation. The parties agree to use their skill and knowledge and bring what they contribute to the party system investigation only for the purpose of finding the cause of the accident and making recommendations to improve safety.
The investigations conducted by some groups are incredibly broad. For example, often the operations group will interview pilots and witnesses; travel to the scene, however remote; obtain records; travel to pilot bases; obtain and review pilot records; interview co-workers; and obtain records associated with the maintenance and flight house of the helicopter.
Method For Determining Admissibility
A motion in limine is “any motion, whether made before or during trial, to exclude anticipated prejudicial evidence before the evidence is actually offered”. Luce v. United States, 469 U.S. 38, 40 n.2 (1984). The court has inherent authority to decide such motions in order to manage the course of trials. Id at 41. The court also has broad discretion to decide preliminary questions concerning the qualifications of a witness or the admissibility of evidence. O.E.C. 104. In State v. Busby, 315 Or. 292, 844 P.2d 897 (1993), the Oregon Supreme Court noted that it had “expressly approved the use of a pretrial motion in limine to obtain a ruling on evidence before the evidence is sought to be introduced.” 315 Or. n.16 at 305.
Other courts have permitted motions in limine to be filed by a party seeking pretrial rulings that NTSB group chairman’s factual reports were admissible, In re Air Crash at Charlotte, N.C. on July 2, 1994, 982 F. Supp. 1071, 1075 (D. S.C. 1996), or inadmissible, Brown v. Teledyne Continental Motors, Inc., No. 1:06-CV-00026 (N.D. Ohio March 15, 2007).
It is particularly appropriate to file a motion in limine well before the start of any aviation trial. The NTSB investigation will likely be extensive, and by statute and regulation the NTSB is the only authorized investigatior into the facts and circumstances of the subject accident. By the time the final report is released in a major NTSB investigation, thousands of hours may have been spent to produce an extensive body of evidence, all of which would be contained on the NTSB’s own public docketing system, and which would be virtually impossible to reproduce absent significant additional time and at incredible cost.
Conclusion
Aviation defense counsel should begin studying the NTSB fact reports, as well as what is virtually always a massive amount of attachments (exhibits) to the reports, as soon as possible. The reports are virtually always primarily new information since during the pendancy of the NTSB investigation, the NTSB will use its powers as the exclusive investigating agency to voluntarily obtain or subpoena documents related to the investigation which, pursuant to the regulations, are not discoverable until released by the NTSB. In many cases this is not until after the factual group chairman’s reports are posted to the NTSB docket, or even until after the Board’s report is due, although, as noted above, the report containing the Board’s causal conclusions and safety recommendations is inadmissible pursuant to statute. The skilled aviation defense attorney will assess the judge’s familiarity with the NTSB and the NTSB process, if any, as soon as possible and begin educating the judge appropriately so that the proper rulings are obtained.