Simone Maugnie v. Compagnie Nationale Air France

On this appeal we are required to interpret the meaning of “disembarking” as used in Article 17 of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air (the “Warsaw Convention”), 1 which provides as follows:

Appellant contends that the district court erred in holding that her injury did not occur in the course of disembarking within the meaning of Article 17. Unpersuaded by appellant’s arguments, we affirm.

The facts are not in dispute. In 1971 appellant contracted with Air France, an international air carrier, for flight from Los Angeles, California, to Paris, France, where she was to transfer to Swiss Air for flight to Geneva, Switzerland. When appellant reached Paris, she exited from the Air France plane and entered the Orly Airport terminal to make her Swiss Air connection. She proceeded down the only passenger corridor leading from the Air France gate to the main terminal area. In a hallway between the airline gate and the center of the terminal, appellant slipped and fell, incurring the injuries which gave rise to the complaint. On reviewing the facts, the district court concluded that “[sjince at the time of her accident, plaintiff…

concurring.

The majority recognizes that application of either the location-of-the-passenger test of MacDonald v. Air Canada, 439 F.2d 1402 (1st Cir. 1971), or the tripartite test of Day v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 528 F.2d 31 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 890 , 97 S.Ct. 246 , 50 L.Ed.2d 172 (1976), results in the same disposition: affirmance of the district court’s judgment and denial of recovery to plaintiff Maugnie. It is therefore plainly unnecessary in this case to resolve an important question concerning an international treaty. We ought not to be reaching out to do so.

But if choose I must, I would choose the MacDonald test. I agree with the district judge that that test is more in keeping with both a fair reading of the language of Article 17 and the Article’s historical derivation. See generally Note, Warsaw Convention— Air Carrier Liability for Passenger Injuries Sustained Within a Terminal, 45 Fordham L.Rev. 369, 370-76, 379-86 (1976). As the First Circuit just recently noted in Hernandez v. Air France, 545 F.2d 279 (1st Cir. 1976), aff’g 405 F.Supp. 154 (D.P.R.1975):

at 283-284. Indeed, all

Note, supra, 45 Fordham L.Rev. at 376.

The Day test, on the…

549 F.2d 1256 39 A.L.R.Fed. 440 Simone MAUGNIE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. COMPAGNIE NATIONALE AIR FRANCE, Defendant-Appellee. No. 74-2672. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Jan. 19, 1977. 1 Albert S. Golbert (argued), Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellant. 2 Alexander Cobb (argued), Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant-appellee. 3 Before DUNIWAY and WALLACE, Circuit Judges, and RICHEY, * District Judge. RICHEY, District Judge: 4 On this appeal we are required to interpret the meaning of "disembarking" as used in Article 17 of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air (the "Warsaw Convention"), 1 which provides as follows: 5 Article 17. The carrier shall be liable for damage sustained in the event of the death or wounding of a passenger or any other bodily injury suffered by a passenger, if the accident which caused the damage so sustained took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking and disembarking (emphasis added). 6 Appellant contends that the district court erred in holding that her injury did not occur in the course of disembarking within the meaning of Article 17.…