New Orleans Hospital Partially Beats Neighbors’ Noise Claims

A New Orleans hospital can continue operating its air ambulance service from its current location but may be liable on a public nuisance claim, a federal court said.

The Federal Aviation Act preempts state laws regulating helicopter flight paths and thus precludes an order requiring Louisiana Children’s Medical Center to move its helipad to abate allegedly excessive noise, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana said Monday. Judge Barry W. Ashe granted summary judgment for the hospital and related entities on the neighbors’ requested injunction, saying that even if moving the helipad required only slight alterations to ...