Saavedra

These two sets of appeals and cross-appeals arise out of the Korean Air Lines (“KAL”) disaster of September 1,1983, when missiles fired from Soviet military aircraft shot down KAL Flight KE007 over the Sea of Japan. The plaintiff, Kimberly Saavedra, is the personal representative for the estates of three crash victims: Makoto and Yoko Okai, who were husband and wife, and Masa-kazu Yamaguchi. Saavedra filed these actions against KAL in the District Court for the Central District of California, claiming a wide array of damages.

When Saavedra filed suit, KAL’s liability to all of the passengers on flight KE007 had already been established in a single trial, conducted in the District Court for the District of Columbia. See In re Korean Air Lines Disaster of Sept. 1, 1983, 575 F.Supp. 342, 343 (J.P.M.L.1983)(per curiam). That trial followed from an order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which transferred all of the federal eases relating to the KE007 disaster to D.C. for resolution of the common issues. The jury in the consolidated trial found that KAL’s “willful misconduct” had caused the death of the passengers, and awarded punitive damages. The Court of Appeals…