A recent NTSB decision highlights the imperative of appealing an emergency order of revocation in a timely manner, and the continuing, near-insurmountable hurdle of trying to prove “good cause” if the appeal deadline is missed. In Administrator v. Muriuki the FAA issued an emergency order revoking the airman’s medical certificate. Per 49 C.F.R. § 821.53(a) the airman had 10 days within which to appeal the order. The airman did not file his appeal until 4 days after it was due. However, it is possible for the Board to accept a late-filed appeal if the airman is able to show “good cause” for delay in filing. Unfortunately, the Board rejected the airman’s “good cause” argument and rejected the late-filed appeal.
What is noteworthy about this case isn’t the fact that the Board is strict about timing requirements for filing appeals. That isn’t new. But what is important about this case is how the Board continues to reject legitimate “good cause” arguments asserted by airmen.
In this case, the FAA issued a notice of proposed certificate action (“Notice”) in December 2017 with respect to the airman’s medical certificate. The emergency order revoking the airman’s medical certificate was not issued until April 13, 2018. During the time period from December 2017 through mid-April 2018 the airman was traveling away from his home but had made arrangements for someone to check his mail. However, the person who was supposed to be checking the airman’s mail never checked the mail when the FAA issued the emergency order and so the airman was not aware that the order was issued.
Rather, on April 20, 2018 the airman went in to apply for a new medical certificate and was told by the aviation medical examiner (“AME”) that he could not issue a medical and the airman should contact the FAA directly for more information. The airman called the the FAA on April 20, April 23, and April 24, and, finally, on April 25, 2018 someone from the FAA told the airman that the FAA had sent him something in the mail, although the individual apparently did not tell the airman exactly what had been sent.
So, the airman then contacted the person who was supposed to be checking his mail who then confirmed to the airman that the emergency order was sent to the airman. The airman retained an attorney that day and, after the attorney contacts the FAA attorney the following day to obtain a copy of the order, the attorney filed an appeal on behalf of the airman on April 27, 2018 – a mere 4 days after it was otherwise due.
In analyzing the case the Board observed that “good cause” is defined by two criteria: (1) factors outside of respondent’s control prevented him from knowing or acting upon the emergency order, and (2) once he was aware, he acted diligently to initiate his appeal. Based upon the facts, the Board believed that the airman’s arrangements for having his mail checked were inadequate because the airman did not explain how often his mail was being checked and admitted that during the week when the emergency order was issued the mail was not checked at all.
It was also unhappy with the fact that the airman followed the AME’s instructions and attempted to contact the FAA to find out what was going on, rather than going back and checking his mail. According to the Board, the airman also could have contacted the FAA investigator handling the case and he should have done more to assure that the mail was checked and he was notified if/when something from the FAA was received. Thus, it concluded that it was not convinced circumstances beyond the airman’s control prevented him from knowing about the emergency order.
And even if that weren’t the case, the Board went on to find that the airman’s actions after the AME refused to issue him a medical did not show diligence. The Board faulted the airman for only trying to call the FAA and waiting 5 days before going back to have his mail checked. (Of course this ignores the fact that it took the airman 5 days to get an answer out of the FAA, and an incomplete answer at that).
At the end of the day, this case makes clear, yet again, that you can expect the Board to be almost completely unforgiving if you file an appeal late. Although you may request that the Board accept the late-appeal based upon “good cause”, please realize that the burden of proving “good cause” is nearly insurmountable.
So, if you are the subject of an FAA investigation, make sure you check your mail every day. If you can’t, have someone you trust check it for you. And if you receive something from the FAA, don’t ignore it. Open it immediately. The time for you to defend and protect your rights may already be ticking. And if you do receive an order, emergency or otherwise, from the FAA, do not delay in taking action. It is much better to argue the merits of an FAA decision rather than whether you met the timing requirements for an appeal of the FAA’s decision.
