Judge: NM can yank US Airways liquor license
Posted at: 10/01/2009 10:27 AM
By: TIME KORTE, Associated Press Writer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A federal judge in New Mexico has ruled state officials had the legal right to yank a liquor license for US Airways after a deplaned passenger caused a drunken-driving crash that killed five people.
The airline sued the state in 2007 after the New Mexico Regulation and License Department denied a license to serve alcohol on its New Mexico flights.
US Airways argued that New Mexico had no authority to regulate on-board alcohol service, require alcohol training or enforce sanctions against the carrier because the state was pre-empted by federal law.
However, in a 24-page opinion issued late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo found neither the Airline Deregulation Act nor the Federal Aviation Act can pre-empt state liquor control laws.
US Airways had no immediate comment.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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