Plaintiffs brought a wrongful death action against Olympic Airways under the liability provisions of the Warsaw Convention for the death of Dr. Abid Hanson, a passenger on one of Olympic's flights who suffered from asthma and was particularly sensitive to secondhand smoke. Dr. Hanson went into respiratory distress and died while the aircraft was in flight. The court held that smoke ingestion played “a significant causal role” in Dr. Hanson’s death. The court found the airline liable for Dr. Hanson’s death because the flight attendant did not follow company policy and deviated from the accepted industry standard of care when she failed to adequately respond to requests by Dr. Hanson’s wife to move him to a seat further away from the smoking section. Her actions qualified as an “accident” under the Convention (defined as “an unexpected or usual event”), and the accident was a proximate cause of Dr. Hanson’s death. In addition, because the flight attendant’s actions amounted to “willful misconduct,” the cap on damages under the Convention did not apply. Dr. Hanson was found to be 50 percent contributorily negligent in causing his death by failing to move independently to another area of the plane and, as a result, the reward was reduced by 50 percent to a total of $700,000. The court declined to hold the airline liable with respect to plaintiffs’ claims about the flight crew’s delay in effectively providing oxygen to Dr. Hanson or the crew’s failure to turn on the “no smoking” sign during the flight.
Husain v. Olympic Airways, 116 F.Supp.2d 1121 (N.D. Cal., 2000)
United States
Oct 3, 2000
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
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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"In this case, as a result of his position as an airline passenger, Dr. Hanson's ability to make decisions about his fate and to act on those decisions was diminished. By entering the controlled environment of the airplane, Dr. Hanson had authorized the flight crew to act on his behalf to protect his safety. In return, he implicitly agreed to obey the commands of the flight crew — to remain in his assigned seat until permitted to move, to sit when told to do so, and not to disrupt the cabin environment. Therefore, while Dr. Hanson himself may have been in the best position to recognize the danger that row 48 presented to him, he was in the worst position to actually do something about it.
For these reasons, the Court cannot find that Dr. Hanson's negligence played a more significant causal role in his death than did Ms. Leptourgou's wrongdoing. By the same token, because of Dr. Hanson's unique knowledge of
the danger, the Court cannot conclude that he played no role in causing his death. In the end, the Court concludes that the failures of both parties contributed equally to the tragedy that followed. Therefore, the Court finds that Dr. Hanson was comparatively liable for his death at a rate of 50%."
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.
Plaintiffs brought a wrongful death action against Olympic Airways under the liability provisions of the Warsaw Convention for the death of Dr. Abid Hanson, a passenger on one of Olympic's flights who suffered from asthma and was particularly sensitive to secondhand smoke. Dr. Hanson went into respiratory distress and died while the aircraft was in flight. The court held that smoke ingestion played “a significant causal role” in Dr. Hanson’s death. The court found the airline liable for Dr. Hanson’s death because the flight attendant did not follow company policy and deviated from the accepted industry standard of care when she failed to adequately respond to requests by Dr. Hanson’s wife to move him to a seat further away from the smoking section. Her actions qualified as an “accident” under the Convention (defined as “an unexpected or usual event”), and the accident was a proximate cause of Dr. Hanson’s death. In addition, because the flight attendant’s actions amounted to “willful misconduct,” the cap on damages under the Convention did not apply. Dr. Hanson was found to be 50 percent contributorily negligent in causing his death by failing to move independently to another area of the plane and, as a result, the reward was reduced by 50 percent to a total of $700,000. The court declined to hold the airline liable with respect to plaintiffs’ claims about the flight crew’s delay in effectively providing oxygen to Dr. Hanson or the crew’s failure to turn on the “no smoking” sign during the flight.