American Airlines 2002 Annual Report Download - page 22

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20
On August 19, 2002, a U.S. travel agency filed Power Travel International, Inc. v. American Airlines, Inc.,
et al., in New York state court against American, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Air
Lines, and Northwest Airlines, alleging that American and the other defendants breached their contracts with the
agency as well as the duty of good faith and fair dealing when these carriers at various times reduced base
commissions to zero. The plaintiff seeks to certify a nationwide class of travel agents, but no class has yet been
certified. The plaintiff dismissed JetBlue from the lawsuit, and the remaining defendants removed the lawsuit to the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case is stayed as to United Air Lines, since
it filed for bankruptcy. American is vigorously defending the lawsuit, and has filed a motion to dismiss it. A final
adverse court decision awarding substantial money damages or forcing the Company to pay agency commissions
would have an adverse impact on the Company.
Miami-Dade County (the County) is currently investigating and remediating various environmental
conditions at the Miami International Airport (MIA) and funding the remediation costs through landing fees and
various cost recovery methods. American Airlines, Inc. and AMR Eagle have been named as potentially
responsible parties (PRPs) for the contamination at MIA. During the second quarter of 2001, the County filed a
lawsuit against 17 defendants, including American Airlines, Inc., in an attempt to recover its past and future
cleanup costs (Miami-Dade County, Florida v. Advance Cargo Services, Inc., et al. in the Florida Circuit Court). In
addition to the 17 defendants named in the lawsuit, 243 other agencies and companies were also named as PRPs
and contributors to the contamination. American’s and AMR Eagle’s portion of the cleanup costs cannot be
reasonably estimated due to various factors, including the unknown extent of the remedial actions that may be
required, the proportion of the cost that will ultimately be recovered from the responsible parties, and uncertainties
regarding the environmental agencies that will ultimately supervise the remedial activities and the nature of that
supervision. The Company is vigorously defending the lawsuit.