Nissan Fire & Marine Insurance v. Fritz Companies, Inc.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Fletcher, J.
Appellants Hitachi Data Systems Corp. (“Hitachi”) and its insurer, Nissan Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. (“Nissan”), sued appellees Fritz Co., Inc. (“Fritz”) and Tower Air, Inc. (“Tower”) under the Warsaw Convention for recovery of damages arising out of the total loss*of goods carried by Fritz and Tower. The district court granted summary judgment for Fritz and Tower, and Hitachi and Nissan appealed. For the reasons that follow, we revérse as to Fritz and affirm as to Tower.
I
In June 1995, Hitachi contracted with Fritz, a freight forwarder, to ship a 530 kilogram disk drive from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Pursuant to arrangements made by Fritz, Tower flew the disk drive to Buenos Aires. The parties agree that the disk drive arrived damaged on June 13, 1995, and was thereafter determined to be a total loss. The parties disagree, however, on whether Hitachi provided timely notification of the loss to Fritz and Tower.
The timeliness of notice is controlled by the Warsaw Convention, which governs international shipment by air. See Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Transportation by Air, Oct. 12, 1929, 49 Stat. 3000 , 3014, T.S. No.…