"Senate Approves Treaty Updating Limits on Airlines' Liability"

Saturday, August 1, 2003

Senate Approves Treaty Updating Limits on Airlines' Liability
By MATTHEW L. WALD
The New York (NY) Times


WASHINGTON, — The Senate approved on Thursday night a treaty that will give
the families of passengers killed on international flights the same rights
to recover damages as those on domestic flights. The move sets aside a
70-year-old system of liability limits, and generally gives Americans the
right to sue in this country even if the accident occurred elsewhere.

The new rules will replace the Warsaw Convention of 1929, a document
approved by the kings of Poland, Italy and Egypt and partly updated in the
years since. Many modern travelers know the name of the treaty from the fine
print on the back of airline tickets.

The replacement treaty was drafted under the auspices of the International
Civil Aviation Organization and will take effect 60 days after the 30th
country approves it; 29 were already on record as having done so as of
today, and the United States would be the 30th unless the paperwork is
completed in some other country first, officials said.

The treaty was approved by unanimous consent.

The new rules will guarantee relatives of people killed in aviation
accidents compensation of $141,000 without regard to the airline's fault,
and more unless the airline can prove another party was at fault. The Warsaw
limit was $75,000, although in 1996, under prodding from the United States
Department of Transportation, major American carriers and many foreign
carriers serving this country agreed to waive that limit.

The new agreement, known as the Montreal Convention, after the city where
the civil aviation organization has its headquarters, also expands the list
of places where a family can sue, to include the passenger's place of
residence if the airline does any business there, in addition to the
traditional ones: the country of departure, the country of the intended
destination, the country where the ticket was purchased and the country
where the airline is based. Damage awards from American courts are far
larger than those from courts of most other nations.

Jeffrey N. Shane, the undersecretary of transportation for policy, said,
"This long overdue treaty will provide far more humane treatment for
claimants."

George H. Williams, whose son George W. Williams was killed in the explosion
of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, said, "The $75,000 cap was
just completely unrealistic in today's economy." In that case, he said,
families of the 270 victims were released from the Warsaw limit when they
convinced a court that the airline had shown willful negligence, but the new
treaty does not require such a finding.

"This is a very big deal," said Warren Dean, a lawyer who represented the
major American airlines in the negotiations. He said the limits irritated
passengers and "it was not a liability system that suited the carriers in
terms of the way they saw their relationship with their customers."

Reflecting recent changes in the airline industry, the treaty also clarifies
that if a passenger buys a ticket from one airline and is carried on another
under a code-sharing arrangement, both are fully liable for damages.

Supporters of the Montreal Convention predicted that once the treaty takes
effect, other countries would sign on. The system also raises damage limits
for nonfatal accidents, and simplifies rules on shipping cargo, allowing
more electronic records.

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