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legal matters about the author PART 13 VS. PART 16 PART 13 ✔ Informal complaint Paul A. Lange, Founder/leader of Paul A. Lange LLC ✔ Accepted verbally or in writing ✔ Investigated by FAA regional staff ✔ Imposes no time deadlines for issuing decisions PART 16 ✔ Formal complaint ✔ Accepted in writing ✔ Parties must be substantially affected by the alleged noncompliance ✔ FAA headquarters investigates these complaints ✔ Imposes strict deadlines for filing, adjudication and appeal complaint, initiate and engage, in good faith, efforts to resolve your issues with the airport sponsor informally. Any Part 16 complaint must include a certification that "substantial and reasonable good faith efforts to resolve the disputed matter informally prior to filing the complaint have been made and that there appears no reasonable prospect for timely resolution of the dispute." With regard to the first requirement, any person or entity doing business with an airport and paying fees and/or rentals to the airport is generally considered directly and substantially affected by the airport sponsor's conduct. This includes circumstances of revenue diversion where airport revenue, in contravention of 49 U.S.C. 47107(b), is used for purposes other than for the capital and/or operating costs of the airport, the local airport system, or other local facilities owned or operated by the airport owner or operator, and directly and substantially related to the air transportation of passengers or property. Further, and as more fully described in the first three articles in this series, tenants of federally funded airports, and in particular Fixed Base Operators (FBOs), are afforded an even greater range of issues upon which to claim standing to pursue a Part 16 action against an airport sponsor (e.g., inequitable application of the minimum standards to airport tenants; improper dictation of FBO rate structures; and the exercise of an impermissible exclusive right, just to name a few). We next turn to the second requirement, namely a certification of pre-action efforts at resolution. This requirement may be satisfied by well documented informal settlement efforts between and among the parties directly, or through more formal attempts at mediation, arbitration, use of a dispute resolution board, or some other form of third-party intervention. Regardless of the type of settlement effort(s) attempted, those efforts are all at the parties' own expense. It bears noting that in accordance with Subsection 16.22, the FAA airport district office, FAA airports field office, or FAA regional airports division responsible for administering federal financial assistance to the airport sponsor is available upon request to assist with efforts at pre-action informal resolution. Choose Carefully The primary consideration when electing between pursuing an action under Parts 13 and 16 is whether you Paul A Lange founded and leads the law offices of Paul A. Lange LLC with offices in Conn. and N.Y. The firm practices nationwide and internationally in various aviation-related legal matters, including airport development, financing, regulatory enforcement matters, and disputes. about the author Megan Bryson, Attorney at Paul A. Lange LLC Megan Bryson is an attorney at the firm whose practice includes airport matters. www.lopal.com have standing to pursue a Part 16 action. In short, are you legally eligible to file a Part 16 action? As an existing airport tenant, the answer is likely: "Yes." You're then in the fortunate position of having a choice between the nuances of the Part 13 and Part 16 processes. As an airport user, the question becomes a bit more complicated. As a prospective airport tenant and/or user, the question becomes riddled with legal pitfalls. If you believe you may have a cause of action against an airport sponsor, your best course is to contact counsel familiar with the FAA airport dispute resolution process as early as possible to determine your best avenue for recourse and to identify the steps you'll need to take in order to resolve the dispute quickly. April 2013 www.AviationPros.com 29