Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 165

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Unit: $U78

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DOOLEY v. KOREAN AIR LINES CO.

Opinion of the Court

airplane crash occurs on the high seas, DOHSA supplies the
Id., at 231. Accordingly,
substantive United States law.”
the petitioners could not recover damages for loss of society:
“[W]here DOHSA applies, neither state law, see Offshore
Logistics, Inc. v. Tallentire, 477 U. S. 207, 232–233 (1986), nor
general maritime law, see Mobil Oil Corp. v. Higginbotham,
436 U. S. 618, 625–626 (1978), can provide a basis for recovery
of loss-of-society damages.”
Id., at 230. We did not decide,
however, whether the petitioners in Zicherman could re-
cover for their decedents’ pre-death pain and suffering, as
KAL had not raised this issue in its petition for certiorari.
See id., at 230, n. 4.

After the Zicherman decision, KAL again moved to dis-
miss all of petitioners’ claims for nonpecuniary damages.
The District Court granted this motion, holding that United
States law (not South Korean law) governed these cases; that
DOHSA provides the applicable United States law; and that
DOHSA does not permit the recovery of nonpecuniary dam-
ages––including petitioners’ claims for their decedents’ pre-
death pain and suffering.
In re Korean Air Lines Disaster
of Sept. 1, 1983, 935 F. Supp. 10, 12–15 (1996).

On appeal, petitioners argued that, although DOHSA does
not itself permit recovery for a decedent’s pre-death pain and
suffering, general maritime law provides a survival action
that allows a decedent’s estate to recover for injuries (includ-
ing pre-death pain and suffering) suffered by the decedent.
The Court of Appeals rejected this argument and afﬁrmed.
In re Korean Air Lines Disaster of Sept. 1, 1983, 117 F. 3d
1477 (CADC 1997). Assuming, arguendo, that there is a
survival cause of action under general maritime law, the
court held that such an action is unavailable when the death
is on the high seas:

“For deaths on the high seas, Congress decided who may
sue and for what.
Judge-made general maritime law
may not override such congressional judgments, how-
ever ancient those judgments may happen to be. Con-