Prior to departure on the final leg of the aircraft’s daily schedule, a Southwest Airlines dispatcher provided the captain of Flight 2745 with a pre-flight information packet. The packet contained weather-related information, including a private meteorologist’s forecast of moderate turbulence at 20,000 to 26,000 feet and a number of PIREPs, one of which was a report of severe turbulence at 20,000 to 22,000 feet over Windsor, Ontario. Based on this information, the Southwest Airlines dispatcher advised the captain of Flight 2745 to fly at 30,000 feet.

However, the captain elected to fly at 20,000 feet because he had encountered turbulence above 24,000 feet on the previous flight from Chicago to Cleveland. The captain requested and received permission from the controller at the Cleveland Center to fly at 20,000 feet; he did not inform his Southwest Airlines dispatcher of his decision. Neither the dispatcher nor the air traffic controller informed Flight 2745 of MIS 02, MIS 03 or the CWA that NWS meteorologist had issued earlier. 

Flight 2745 took off from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 9:40 p.m. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft encountered a light to moderate bump, and the pilots instructed the flight attendants to take their seats. Within five seconds of the pilots’ order, Flight 2745 encountered severe turbulence for approximately fifteen seconds. LeGrande, who presumably had not had time to secure herself in a seat, was injured and rendered unconscious during the episode. Flight 2745 provided the air traffic controller with a PIREP describing severe turbulence at 9:58 p.m. Several physicians aboard Flight 2745 cared for LeGrande until the aircraft landed at Chicago Midway International Airport. 

LeGrande filed an administrative Claim for Damage, Injury, or Death with the FAA. She sought $25 million for her turbulence-related injuries. In her claim, Ms. LeGrande alleged that the Federal Aviation Administration, its employees, agents and representatives, were negligent in that they breached their duties under the rules and regulations governing the performance of their job duties. 

The district court concluded that the United States, through the FAA, owes a duty of reasonable care to an aircraft, passengers, crews and cargoes in the performance of air traffic control responsibilities and that this duty includes warning pilots of certain weather conditions. Nevertheless, the district court determined that the FAA had not breached that duty here. Specifically, the district court concluded that the duty owed by air traffic controllers does not include an obligation to disseminate MIS notifications to pilots because such weather products are designed for traffic planning purposes rather than for providing immediate navigational guidance to aircraft already aloft.  

The court further determined that the CWA issued before the departure of Flight 2745 was not pertinent because it was limited to airspace east of Cleveland through which Flight 2745, heading west from Cleveland to Chicago, did not travel. The Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the district court correctly determined that LeGrande had failed to establish that FAA personnel breached any duty owed to her. Additionally, the allegations of the NWS meteorologist’s negligence are barred for failure to comply with the statutory requirement that suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act be preceded by an administrative complaint. "Ms. LeGrande... has pointed to no statute, regulation or other directive that imposes on FAA traffic controllers the responsibility to transmit MIS weather products to pilots. Indeed, a review of the governing directives makes clear that no such obligation exists," Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kenneth Ripple wrote.