In an opinion issued on January 15, 2021, the Circuit Court for Cook County, Illinois dismissed an attempted class action lawsuit seeking refunds for flights canceled by Interjet Airlines....more
We are sometimes asked about the application of the Montreal Convention to personal injury cases involving air travel, particularly with our air carrier clients. This article is a short primer on the Convention and a...more
Class action plaintiffs lawyers have reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic by filing putative class actions against airlines which, in order to conserve desperately needed cash, are offering travel credits in lieu of cash refunds...more
On March 16, 2020, a U.S. carrier was held before takeoff at JFK International Airport in New York after a passenger alerted flight attendants that they were exposed to someone who had tested positive for coronavirus. The...more
Limits on air carrier liability for international accidents has been with us since the adoption of the Warsaw Convention in 1929. One of the flaws in the original Warsaw Convention of 1929 was that there was no regular...more
The Montreal Convention governs the rights and liabilities of parties for claims arising during international carriage between State Parties. Specifically, Articles 21 and 22 of the Convention set forth limits of liability...more
In Erwin-Simpson v. AirAsia Berhad, __ F. Supp. 3d __, No. 18-cv-00083 (CRC), 2019 WL 1317337 (D.D.C. Mar. 22, 2019), the court dismissed personal injury claims by a passenger and her husband arising from spilled boiling...more
In Garcia v Aerovias de Mexico, S. A., the district court remanded all but two actions among 14 that had been removed to federal court on diversity of jurisdiction and federal question grounds. The cases arose from the failed...more
On Nov. 21, 2018, multidistrict litigation (MDL) Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson dismissed all pending wrongful death cases arising from the disappearance of Flight MH370 on forum non conveniens (FNC) grounds. The court concluded...more
In Doe v. Etihad Airways, P.J.S.C., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit radically altered the scope of an air carrier’s liability under the Montreal Convention, the international treaty controlling an air...more
In Wendelberger v. Deutsch Lufthansa AG, No. 18-cv-01055, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88532 (N.D. Cal. May 25, 2018), the Northern District of California recently dismissed a claim against Deutsch Lufthansa AG (“Lufthansa”) on the...more
In AGCS Marine Ins. Co. v. Geodis Calberson Hungaria Logisztikai KFT, No. 16-CV-9710 (S.D. N.Y. 2017), the Southern District of New York recently held that a contracting carrier’s claims for contribution and indemnification...more
A United States Court of Appeals radically altered the scope of an air carrier’s liability under the Montreal Convention, the international treaty controlling an air carrier’s liability for damages to persons or property...more
Recently, airlines have been subject to intense public scrutiny over several high-profile incidents over alleged mistreatment of passengers. These reports are not limited to one particular incident where a customer was...more
Unruly passenger incidents on commercial aircraft are an endemic problem for the airline industry. Such incidents threaten the safety and security of all on board, disrupt operations and result in significant economic losses...more
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Volodarskiy v. Delta Airlines, Inc. follows numerous District Court opinions holding that EU 261 does not provide a right of action enforceable outside the EU...more
In Vanderwall v. United Airlines, Inc., __ F. Supp. 3d __, 2015 WL 309094 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 26, 2015), a federal district court in Florida granted summary judgment to the airline dismissing personal injury claims by a passenger...more
In personal injury or death cases, Article 33 of the Montreal Convention provides five jurisdictions in which an action against the airline can be brought: (1) an air carrier’s place of domicile; (2) an air carrier’s...more
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted an airline's pre-answer motion to dismiss a passenger's discrimination and breach of contract claims arising from the airline's alleged failure to assign the...more