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Keywords

damagesliabilityappealtrialsummary judgmentwillcompensatory damages
damagesliabilitystatuteappealtrialsummary judgmentwillcompensatory damages

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Piamba Cortes v. American Airlines, Inc., 177 F.3d 1272, 1999 A.M.C. 2286, 12 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 947

Facts

On December 20, 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 crashed while attempting to land at the Alfonso Bonilla Aragon airport in Cali, Colombia, killing 151 passengers, including Maria Constanza Piamba Cortes. The flight, piloted by Captain Nicholas Tafuri and First Officer Donnie Ray Williams, was cleared by air traffic control to descend but deviated from its assigned flight path due to a series of navigational errors. The pilots' failure to verify their position and their decision to continue descending in mountainous terrain led to the crash.

On December 20, 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 ('Flight 965') crashed as the plane attempted to navigate its arrival to the Alfonso Bonilla Aragon airport in Cali, Colombia. The crash killed 151 passengers, including Maria Constanza Piamba Cortes, a domiciliary of Colombia who was returning home after studying in the United States.

Issue

The main legal issues included whether the amendment to the Warsaw Convention's damages cap applied retroactively, whether the pilots knew they were significantly off course prior to the crash, and the applicable law for compensatory damages.

The Court of Appeals, Birch, Circuit Judge, held that: (1) amendment affecting avoidance of Warsaw Convention's damages cap applied retroactively; (2) genuine issue existed as to whether pilots knew they were 'significantly' off course prior to crash; (3) Florida law, rather than Colombian law, governed compensatory damages issues; (4) Florida's comparative fault statute did not apply to airline's liability; and (5) factual circumstances surrounding crash, as well as legal determination concerning willful misconduct, were properly excluded from evidence during trial on damages.

Rule

The court applied the Warsaw Convention, particularly Article 25, which requires a passenger to prove that an air carrier subjectively knew its conduct likely would result in harm to escape the Convention's limitations on liability.

In this appeal, we hold as a matter of first impression that Article 25 of the Warsaw Convention, as clarified by Montreal Protocol No. 4, requires a passenger to prove that an air carrier subjectively knew its conduct likely would result in harm to its passengers in order to escape the Convention's limitations on liability.

Analysis

The court determined that the district court incorrectly entered summary judgment against the air carrier regarding the application of the Warsaw Convention's liability cap. It found that the amendment to Article 25 clarified the law rather than changed it, allowing for retroactive application. The court also affirmed the district court's application of Florida law for compensatory damages and its exclusion of evidence related to the crash during the damages trial.

For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the district court incorrectly entered summary judgment against the air carrier on this issue and remand for a determination by the finder of fact whether the air carrier's conduct precludes the application of the Convention's liability cap to this case.

Conclusion

The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's rulings on the application of Florida law and the exclusion of certain evidence but vacated the summary judgment on liability, remanding for further proceedings to determine whether the air carrier's conduct precluded the application of the Convention's liability cap.

We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court with respect to these issues.

Who won?

The prevailing party was the estate and survivor of Maria Constanza Piamba Cortes, as the court affirmed the district court's ruling on liability against the air carrier.

American appeals three issues, arguing that: (1) 'willful misconduct' requires a subjective rather than an objective test, and the evidence creates a question of fact for the jury under this test; (2) conflict-of-laws principles warrant the application of the compensatory damages scheme used by the decedent's domicile, which in this case is Colombia; and (3) the Convention operates as a 'pass-through' on the issue of damages, and thus the district court should have applied Florida's apportionment statute.

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