Northwest Airlines prohibited smoking on all domestic and most international flights, but it permitted smoking on most flights to and from Asia. Julie Duncan filed a class-action personal-injury suit against Northwest on behalf of nonsmoking flight attendants who served as crew on these smoking flights. Duncan claimed that by permitting smoking, Northwest breached its duty under Washington state law to provide a safe and healthy work environment for its employees. Northwest filed a motion to dismiss, asserting that Duncan’s action was preempted by Section 1305(a) (1) of the Airline Deregulation Act, which provides that “no state or political subdivision thereof and no interstate agency or other political agency of two or more states shall enact or enforce any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provision having the force and effect of law relating to the rates, routes or service of any air carrier.”
Is the state action tort claim preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act? Explain why or why not. [Duncan v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., 208 F.3d 1112 (9th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1058 (2000).]