Sunday, August 07, 2011
S. Binyomin Ginsberg, Champion Kvetch
In the Yiddish language, a kvetch is a person who is a chronic complainer. Sometimes an accomplished kvetch can end up helping others. Fed up with what it says was incessant complaints, Northwest Airlines gave a rabbi the boot from its frequent-flyer program, and now he’s suing.
Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg of Minneapolis claims Northwest cancelled his membership “arbitrarily because he complained too frequently about the services.”
Ginsberg first filed his class action lawsuit two years ago in a Southern California district court. The judge dismissed Ginsberg’s complaint, saying the Airline Deregulation Act pre-empted the rabbi’s contract claims.
So the rabbi appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the lower court judge was wrong in his decision and that airline deregulation does not trump common law. The decision allows Ginsberg to move ahead with his…complaint.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Airline Passengers Can Sue if Deals are Revoked (by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle)
Frequent-Flying Rabbi Can Sue Northwest-Delta (by Tim Hull, Courthouse News Service)
S. Binyomin Ginsberg v. Northwest Inc. (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals) (pdf)
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