Vumbaca v. Terminal One Grp. Ass’n L.P., 859 F. Supp. 2d 343 (E.D.N.Y. 2012)
Facts
From December 26th to 27th, 2010, during the height of the holiday travel season, the New York metropolitan area was—somewhat unexpectedly—blanketed with over a foot of snow. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) was closed to air traffic for the worst of the storm. When it reopened, there were continuing problems. Passengers on arriving flights were forced to endure substantial waits after landing before they were able to disembark. Difficulties appear to have been particularly severe at terminals serving international flights. The events sparked a federal investigation and new regulations that forbid foreign air carriers from permitting international flights to remain on the tarmac at a United States airport for more than four hours without allowing passengers to deplane. SeeEnhancing Airline Passenger Protections, 76 Fed.Reg. 23110, 23110 (Apr. 25, 2011) (extending existing regulations, which applied to domestic carriers, to foreign carriers).
Plaintiff Vivian Vumbaca was one of the stranded passengers. Trapped for most of the night aboard an Alitalia flight from Rome that had arrived at Terminal One, she was forced to endure, as she put it, “cramped, uncomfortable, malodorous conditions, without food, water and sanitation” for nearly seven hours.
Issue(s)
No issues drafted yet for this case.Discussion
Plaintiff’s emotional and dignitary harms are not “damage” recoverable under Article 19.
The Convention does not define what kind of “damage” is covered under this Article. The Supreme Court has indicated that Article 19 covers harms that are distinct from the “personal injuries” recoverable under Article 17. See Tseng, 525 U.S. at 168–169, 119 S.Ct. 662 (distinguishing between “the three areas of air carrier liability (personal injuries in Article 17, baggage or goods loss, destruction, or damage in Article 18, and damage occasioned by delay in Article 19)”).
Courts in the Second Circuit have found that Article 19 only applies to “ economic loss occasioned by delay in transportation.” Sobol v. Continental Airlines, No. 05–CV–8992, 2006 WL 2742051, at *5 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 26, 2006) (emphasis added); Ikekpeazu, 2004 WL 2810063, at *5 (“Plaintiff’s allegations of financial injury resulting from the delay in his return to practice provide a basis for a claim under [Article 19]…. However, his allegations of emotional injury do not.”); Thach v. China Airlines, Ltd., No. 95 Civ. 8468, 1997 WL 282254, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. May 27, 1997) (holding, where plaintiff was prevented from boarding his flight due to misapprehension that he had a fraudulent passport, that Article 19 only permitted claim for “recovery of the price of his ticket (approximately $1,000);” the Convention barred plaintiff’s other claims for unlawful detention, conversion of his passport, conversion of his money, and intentional infliction of emotional distress); cf. Sassouni, 769 F.Supp. at 540–41 (not reaching the issue of whether plaintiff could recover for emotional distress under Article 19, as claim would be barred under the Convention’s statute of limitations).
Emotional harms are not compensable under Article 19. Daniel, 59 F.Supp.2d at 992 (holding that it could “not logically find that damages for purely emotional injuries caused by delayed arrival are available under the Convention”); see also Booker v. BWIA West Indies Airways Ltd., No. 06–CV–2146, 2007 WL 1351927, at *4 n. 6 (E.D.N.Y. May 8, 2007); Ikekpeazu, 2004 WL 2810063, at *5;Fields, 2000 WL 1091129, at *6;Thach, 1997 WL 282254, at *4.
Plaintiff argues, citing Daniel, that damages for inconvenience are not emotional harms and are separately compensable under the Convention. See Daniel, 59 F.Supp.2d at 994 (“[D]amages for inconvenience do not fall within the rubric of ‘emotional distress.’ Time is money, after all, and the Court finds that the inconvenienceof being trapped for hours in an unfamiliar airport is a compensable element of damages for delay in air travel under the Warsaw Convention and domestic law, even in the absence of economic loss or physical injury.”); cf. Kupferman v. Pakistan Int’l Airlines, 108 Misc.2d 485, 438 N.Y.S.2d 189, 192 (N.Y.Civ.Ct.1981) (holding, in a case raising an Article 19 claim for delay of baggage, that “[p]laintiffs are entitled to fair and just compensation for physical discomfort,” inconvenience, humiliation, embarrassment and loss of a refreshing, memorable vacation due to the total absence of their luggage including a movie camera for the duration of their trip). Research has revealed few courts that have followed Daniel’s invitation to compensate for “inconvenience” under Article 19.
Mere inconvenience does not support a claim under Article 19. Since plaintiff’s only timely claims are for non-economic harms, she cannot recover under Article 19
Useful for
Mental anguish damages not recoverable for delay
