Northwest Orient Airlines, Inc. v. Geraldine B. Gorter, as Administratrix of the Estate of John M. Waldrep, Deceased

Appellant Airlines appeals from the judgment of the District Court of the Northern District of Washington in a diversity case holding it liable to Mrs. Gorter, administratrix of the estate of one Waldrep, for damage to Waldrep’s minor daughter from the death of her father by drowning caused by Airlines’ undisputed negligence, whereby the airship in which Waldrep was a passenger was grounded in the tidal waters of the Pacific off the Dominion of Canada.

Airlines moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the place of death determined the liability and that since the death occurred in British Columbia, Canada, the British Columbia law prevailed and the right of action had not survived. Gorter opposed the motion to dismiss on the ground that the controlling law was that of the place of Airlines’ negligence prior to the landing in British Columbia and hence the British Columbia law did not control, but that if the law of the place of death did control, it was not pleaded.

The court denied the motion to dismiss and Airlines then answered admitting that its plane “settled just off the Sand-spit, British Columbia, shore January-19, 1952”, and alleging by a subsequent amendment…