AIRLINE LIABILITY — THE WARSAW CONVENTION — NINTH CIRCUIT RULES PASSENGER'S DEVELOPMENT OF DEEP-VEIN THROMBOSIS IS NOT AN 'ACCIDENT' UNDER THE WARSAW CONVENTION: RODRIGUEZ V. ANSETT AUSTRALIA, LTD.

摘要

International air transportation is subject to the rules of the Warsaw Convention ("Convention"), a uniform body of legal rules governing the liability and rights of air carriers and their passengers. Article 17 of the Convention holds an international air carrier liable for the death or bodily injury of a passenger if the accident causing the damage occurred on board the aircraft or in the course of any operations of embarking or disembarking. The meaning of the term "accident" is of central importance to the invocation of liability. Because the Convention provides no definition for the term and French continental jurists drafted its contents against the background of French law, the Supreme Court, in Air France v. Saks, deferred to French law in determining its meaning. The Court defined "accident" as "an unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger." Recently, in Rodriguez v. Ansett Australia Ltd., the Ninth Circuit, relying on the Saks definition, held that an international air passenger's development of Deep-Vein Thrombosis ("DVT") did not constitute an "accident" under the Warsaw Convention. In doing so, the court effectively limited airline liability for failing to warn passengers of the risks of DVT and for failing to make recommendations for its prevention.