Lee v. China Airlines, Ltd.
Opinion
Opinion
Wilson, J.
ORDER RE MOTION TO DISMISS
Defendant China Airlines has moved to dismiss because of lack of jurisdiction under the Warsaw Convention (“the Convention”). See 49 U.S.C.A. § 1502 (West 1976). The plaintiffs, John and Margaret Lee, argue that Article 28 of the Convention does not require dismissal of China Airlines, and that even if it does, the court should ignore the Convention’s mandate because the Convention is unconstitutional. The court does not agree with either argument, and it therefore grants China Airlines’ motion to dismiss.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
This case is one of several involving China Airlines Flight 006 (a Boeing 747) on February 19, 1985. The Lees were injured on that flight when the 747 made an unexpected and uncontrolled 31,000 foot descent off the coast of California.
The Lees are permanent residents of California. Mr. Lee is in the international garment manufacturing business, so he makes frequent trips to Asia. They purchased the tickets which allowed them to travel on Flight 006 in Hong Kong. These tickets were for round trip travel from Hong Kong to San Francisco. The date and flight number on the return portion of the ticket were left open.