In Re Aircrash at Kimpo Intern. Airport

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BACKGROUND

On November 18, 1980, a Korean Air Lines (“Korean”) jet crashed after a flight from the United States to Kimpo International Airport near Seoul, Korea. Several passengers, including plaintiffs’ decedents, were killed. Others, including some plaintiffs, were injured. They now seek to recover damages.

The issues presented to this court are 1) whether the Warsaw Convention (“Convention”) limits the damages recoverable for death or personal injury that results from an accident involving an international air carrier, and 2) the method of calculating damages if the Convention is applied.

The plaintiffs urge this court to strike the defense of the Convention’s limitation on liability, asserting that, inter alia, there was insufficient notice of the applicability of the Convention to that particular flight and California’s Wrongful Death Statute, Cal.Code Civ.Proc. § 377, provides the plaintiffs an independent basis for suit. Alternatively, plaintiffs suggest that, if the Convention is applicable, the method of converting the limitation into dollars should be based upon the free market price of gold, rather than any of the other possible conversion…