Olympic Airways is appealing the district court finding of liability under the Warsaw Convention in the death of a passenger, Dr. Abid Hanson, onboard one of its flights. Dr. Hanson died from an extreme asthma attack caused by exposure to tobacco smoke onboard the flight. The appellate court upheld the district court’s finding that the flight attendant’s failure to help Dr. Hanson upon repeated requests by his wife deviated from industry standards and Olympic’s policies and, therefore, constituted an “accident” which was a cause of Dr. Hanson’s death. The court also affirmed the district court’s finding that the flight attendant’s conduct constituted “willful misconduct,” a determination that removes the cap otherwise imposed on carrier liability under the Convention.
Husain v. Olympic Airways, 316 F.3d 829 (9th Cir. 2002).
An individual or organization may seek civil damages against a tobacco company based on the claim that the use of tobacco products causes disease or death. Some of these cases will relate to general tobacco products, while others will relate to specific subcategories of tobacco products--for example, light or low products, menthol or other flavored products. Additionally, there may be cases relating to exposure to secondhand smoke.
Measures dealing with criminal and civil liability, including compensation.
(See FCTC Art. 19)
Substantive Issues
None
Type of Tobacco Product
None
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"As discussed above, it is apparent that the failure to move Dr. Hanson caused exposure to the smoke that led to his death. There was testimony at trial that the smoke around Dr. Hanson was particularly thick. Olympic personnel were aware of Dr. Hanson's condition, yet they did nothing to assist him. Under Saks, the accident need not be the sole cause of the injury, but it must be a "link in the chain." 470 U.S. at 406, 105 S.Ct. 1338. In this case, the exposure to smoke and failure to move Dr. Hanson is such a link. The facts as determined by the district court, and confirmed by the record, establish that seats were available and that Ms. Leptourgou's failure to help Dr. Hanson resulted in continued exposure to second hand smoke. The district court concluded that had Ms. Leptourgou heeded Ms. Husain's requests for help, Dr. Hanson would not have been exposed to second hand smoke and would not have died. In other words, the minimization of the risk of smoke exposure would have prevented the physiological response that caused his death. Whether Dr. Hanson's death was caused by a reaction to second hand smoke resulting from Ms. Leptourgou's failure to assist or by a reaction to food allergies may appear to be a close call. However, the district court, as the trier of fact, was in the best position to determine which of two plausible explanations was correct. The district court's determination here is plausible in light of the record before the district court, thus is not clearly erroneous, and will not be disturbed on appeal."
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
Olympic Airways is appealing the district court finding of liability under the Warsaw Convention in the death of a passenger, Dr. Abid Hanson, onboard one of its flights. Dr. Hanson died from an extreme asthma attack caused by exposure to tobacco smoke onboard the flight. The appellate court upheld the district court’s finding that the flight attendant’s failure to help Dr. Hanson upon repeated requests by his wife deviated from industry standards and Olympic’s policies and, therefore, constituted an “accident” which was a cause of Dr. Hanson’s death. The court also affirmed the district court’s finding that the flight attendant’s conduct constituted “willful misconduct,” a determination that removes the cap otherwise imposed on carrier liability under the Convention.