Prescod

For most travelers affected by air carriers’ misplacement of luggage, the ineon-venience is a fleeting nuisance. In the case before us, however, the district court found that the defendant Airlines’ failure to ensure that Caroline Neischer’s bag remained in her possession was a substantial cause of Neischer’s death nine days after the bag’s confiscation, because the bag contained “a life-sustaining breathing device and related medicine.” The defendants appeal this determination, challenging whether' Neischer’s death resulted from an “accident” as defined by the Warsaw Convention, 1 and, if so, whether there was “willful misconduct.”

BACKGROUND

On December 14, 1997, Caroline Neischer, a 75-year-old trained nurse with chronic respiratory problems, flew from Los Angeles (“LAX”) to New York (“JFK”) on American Airlines (“AA”). She then transferred to a BWIA (West Indies) International Airways (“BWIA”) flight that took her via Port-of-Spain, Trinidad to Georgetown, Guyana in South America. This case arises out of Neischer’s death on December 23, 1997, after five days of hospitalization. The suit was brought by plaintiff Florence Prescod, decedent’s daughter, her four siblings, and…