Opinion ID: 679962
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Highest Threat Evidence

Text: 77 The last of the three wrongfully excluded wilful-misconduct-evidence assertions raised by Pan Am is the court's refusal to allow evidence that bombs in unaccompanied baggage did not pose the highest threat to airline safety. Appellants sought to introduce this evidence to refute the view of one of plaintiffs' experts that unaccompanied bags pose the greatest risk to airline security. 78 Pan Am and Alert sought to elicit testimony from their terrorism expert that unaccompanied bags do not pose the highest threat to airline safety; instead, unsuspecting couriers pose that threat. Plaintiffs' expert, Billie Vincent, had very briefly testified that the unaccompanied bag poses the highest threat to airline safety. The defense sought to rebut this position through their expert, Dr. Ariel Merari. They contend Vincent's testimony left a false impression as to Pan Am's degree of awareness of the probable consequences posed by unaccompanied baggage. 79 Although the district court did not admit the defense expert's testimony, it agreed to give an instruction that there was no evidence to show that unaccompanied bags posed the greatest security threat and that the jury should disregard any such opinion. Since such a curative instruction was given, any risk that Vincent's brief, qualitative testimony was improperly considered by the jury was removed. See, e.g., United States v. Tutino, 883 F.2d 1125, 1137 (2d Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1081, 110 S.Ct. 1139, 107 L.Ed.2d 1044 (1990). Thus, no abuse of discretion resulted from the exclusion of further testimony on this peripheral subject. 80 II ADMISSION OF OTHER MISCONDUCT EVIDENCE BY PAN AM AND ALERT AND EXCLUSION OF PAN AM AND ALERT'S ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS OF CAUSATION 81 Pan Am and Alert's second major line of argument concerns what it thinks was an error in the trial court's admitting other evidence of misconduct on their part, while at the same time excluding the testimony of several of their witnesses who, they assert, would have presented alternative theories of causation. We examine each of these challenged rulings separately. 82 A. Evidence of Appellants' Alleged Other Misconduct 83 Appellants complain of evidence received to show other acts of alleged misconduct by the airline. This evidence of Pan Am's and Alert's other misconduct is divided into two categories--SECURITY VIOLATIONS ON FLIGHT 103 and THE ALERT SECURITY PROGRAM. With respect to the former alleged misconduct, the proof was as follows: (1) Ulrich Weber, the head of Alert in Frankfurt had been convicted in the U.S. of passing bad checks eight years before he was hired by Alert and had been fired after the disaster at Lockerbie for using a company credit card in a brothel; 2) the ramp around Flight 103 had been left unguarded in violation of ACSSP when the Alert employee assigned to guard it felt ill and went inside; 3) Alert employees were inadequately trained, particularly employee Sabine Fuchs who could not explain what a selectee was even though her job was to pick selectees out from passengers for further screening; one security agent for Flight 103 was an alternate who had only two to three hours of training and did not know what the ACSSP required. She thought someone else was monitoring the baggage. 4) Critical to this case is the fact that the x-ray technician for the flight, the only defense against the bomb, had been employed for only seven weeks, had no formal training, and had not been tested. He had never heard about the Toshiba warning. 84 The proof regarding THE ALERT SECURITY PROGRAM revealed first, that it was neither related to security, nor was it a program. Instituted by Pan Am in May 1986 during a period of sharp decline in international travel due to terrorist attacks, the program was a misleading public relations ploy designed to make would-be travelers feel more secure. An advertisement signed by Pan Am's chairman of the board and CEO was placed in the New York Times and other publications: Dear Air Traveler: 85 On June 12, 1986, Pan Am will initiate one of the most far-reaching security programs in our industry, a program that will screen passengers, employees, airport facilities, baggage, and aircraft with unrelenting thoroughness. 86 The campaign also featured TV ads. As part of the program, Pan Am imposed a security surcharge on international passengers to pay for the promised additional security measures. The surcharge generated $18 million in annual revenue. The security surcharge was $5 each way on overseas tickets--many Flight 103 passengers paid the surcharge--but proceeds from the surcharge were not earmarked for security and instead were commingled with Pan Am's general funds. Alert's first president, Fred Ford, wrote a memo to Pan Am senior executives stating that the promised security program was not being put into effect and that passengers would complain What do I get for my surcharge?The evidence revealed, second, that Alert added more guards during FAA inspections to make it appear that more guards were on duty than generally was the case; this included on one occasion having a guard from the front end of an airplane sent to the back when FAA inspectors come on board so that the inspectors would think that there was a guard at both places. Third, in 1986 Pan Am declined to adopt security recommendations made to it by the Israeli security consulting firm, KPI, which criticized Pan Am's reliance on x-ray and emphasized Pan Am's vulnerability to terrorist attack. Fourth, untrained sniffing dogs had been paraded in front of ticket counters at Kennedy airport to create an appearance of security which did not otherwise exist. 87 Appellants' motion to exclude proof not tied to the Air Malta theory of causation (that the bomb bag came from an interline transfer) was denied by the trial court. It observed that since appellants planned to contest the Air Malta theory, plaintiffs were entitled to present evidence of alleged other misconduct on defendants' parts. The trial judge reasoned that even if the Air Malta theory did not explain the bomb's presence on Flight 103, other pervasive and extensive wilful misconduct by defendants must have accounted for the bomb's presence. Following this general ruling, no specific objections were made to the individual pieces of evidence listed above on any other grounds. Other objections that might have been raised were waived. Accordingly, we review this as a general ruling permitting the introduction of evidence showing prior misconduct, unrelated to the Air Malta theory. 88 This proof that Pan Am acted with wilful misconduct through recklessly disregarding passenger safety in general, with knowledge of the probable consequences of that disregard, was properly received. Although Fed.R.Evid. 404(b) provides for the exclusion of prior misconduct evidence in order to show character or action in conformity therewith, we follow the inclusionary approach to prior misconduct evidence that allows the admission of prior misconduct for any other relevant purpose. Ismail v. Cohen, 899 F.2d 183, 188 (2d Cir.1990). 89 Plaintiffs asserted that a contempt for security pervaded Pan Am from the highest to the lowest levels of the corporation, and that the totality of security failures would permit the jury to infer wilful misconduct. We have approved consideration of the totality of a defendant's wrongdoing in determining whether wilful misconduct existed. See Tug Ocean Prince, Inc. v. United States, 584 F.2d 1151, 1164 (2d Cir.1978), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 959, 99 S.Ct. 1499, 59 L.Ed.2d 772 (1979); see also United States v. Daly, 842 F.2d 1380, 1388 (2d Cir.) (background evidence may be introduced to furnish an explanation of the understanding or intent with which certain acts [are] performed), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 821, 109 S.Ct. 66, 102 L.Ed.2d 43 (1988). 90 Pan Am insists that causation was not established and that therefore the objected to wilful misconduct evidence was speculative and unrelated as a cause of the crash. We think the question of whether it had a causative effect was, without objection or exception, properly submitted to the jury. In other areas of the law, causation may be established when an increasing number of defendant's faults creates an inference that the totality must have caused the harm. See In Re Marine Sulphur Queen, 460 F.2d 89, 99-100 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 982, 93 S.Ct. 326, 34 L.Ed.2d 246 (1972); see also Cappellini v. McCabe Powers Body Co., 713 F.2d 1, 5 (2d Cir.1983) (decisive consideration in assessing the sufficiency of ... evidence of causation is the 'relative probability' of 'possible explanations' for the accident, and the 'legal inferences that can most reasonably be drawn from the most probable ones' ). In libel cases, for example, recklessness causing harm may be demonstrated by cumulative inferences. See Goldwater v. Ginzburg, 414 F.2d 324, 342 (2d Cir.1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1049, 90 S.Ct. 701, 24 L.Ed.2d 695 (1970). 91 We do not hold that as a matter of law the evidence in this case required the jury to agree with the plausibility of a theory that Pan Am and Alert's misconduct was so reckless it must have caused the bomb to go undetected. We say only that under the Warsaw Convention wilful misconduct causing an accident may be established by inference from the totality of the circumstances. Accord In re Korean Air Lines Disaster of September 1, 1983, 932 F.2d 1475, 1481 (D.C.Cir.) (sufficient evidence existed from which to decipher a pattern of conduct giving rise to liability), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 616, 116 L.Ed.2d 638 (1991). 92 This conclusion does not mean that any of the burden of proving causation was lifted from plaintiffs. It remained plaintiffs' duty to prove causation under whatever theory they pursued. In this connection, the district court carefully and in an extensive and well balanced charge instructed the jury that it must find not only wilful misconduct, but also a causal connection between that misconduct and the passengers' deaths. Chief Judge Platt added that defendants' conduct would not be proximate cause of the accident if the accident would have occurred anyway, absent defendants' acts or omissions. Since the evidence introduced by the plaintiffs related to such a showing of causation, there was no error in its receipt. 93 B. Evidence Challenging Plaintiffs' Causation Theory 94 Various attempts by appellants to suggest other specific causation theories were then rebuffed by the trial court. Pan Am and Alert challenge the exclusion of the testimony of four defense witnesses: two offered as experts on terrorism, Noel Koch and Dr. Ariel Merari, and two offered as experts on terrorist bombings, Peter Gurney and John Horne of Scotland Yard. Pan Am also contends it was error to restrict its cross-examination of plaintiffs' experts, Billie Vincent and Rodney Wallis (the former Director of Security for the International Air Transport Association), with respect to other methods of bombing. The trial judge based his rulings largely on the fact that he found appellants had offered nothing to show there was any other specific bombing theory. 95 The admission or exclusion of expert testimony rests soundly in the broad discretion of the trial court. Fed.R.Evid. 702; Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 108, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 2902-03, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974); United States v. Gigante, 729 F.2d 78, 83 n. 2 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1206, 104 S.Ct. 2390, 81 L.Ed.2d 348 (1984). That court may, in its discretion, refuse to entertain expert testimony it thinks unhelpful, cumulative, confusing to the jury, or more prejudicial than probative. See 3 Jack B. Weinstein & Margaret A. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence p 702, at 702-18 to -20 (1993). Expert testimony as to causation may be excluded, particularly where it is speculative and conjectural. See Washington v. Armstrong World Indus., Inc., 839 F.2d 1121, 1123-24 (5th Cir.1988) (court within discretion excluding expert's testimony where expert never examined plaintiff but relied on other expert's examinations and such testimony as to cause of death was pure speculation); Hull v. Merck & Co., Inc., 758 F.2d 1474, 1477-78 (11th Cir.1985) (trial court did not abuse discretion in excluding medical expert's deposition as to cause of plaintiff's disease because assumptions made seemingly firm opinion speculative and irrelevant); Atlantic Mut. Ins. Co. v. Lavino Shipping Co., 441 F.2d 473, 475 (3d Cir.1971); cf. Novak v. United States, 865 F.2d 718, 722 (6th Cir.1989) (error to rely on expert's speculation to find causation); Jones v. Goodlove, 334 F.2d 90, 94 (8th Cir.1964) ([A] trial court may abuse its discretion by allowing a seemingly qualified expert to exceed the permissible bounds of opinion testimony and enter into the realm of utter speculation and conjecture.). 96 The trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the testimony of defense experts Koch and Merari because their conclusions as to more likely explanations for the bombing were speculative. Any testimony as to some other particular method of bombing--without any foundation that such method might explain the Flight 103 bombing--was clearly conjectural. 97 Further, appellants admit in their brief that they did not undertake to prove what method the terrorists used to bomb the aircraft ... [but] contended that the method of bombing has not yet been established. Because there was no evidence presented with respect to other possible methods of causation that might explain how this tragic event occurred, and because appellants never sought to show that any other specific method of bombing could have caused it, any testimony relating to such other causes would necessarily be speculative. Although Dr. Merari and Noel Koch would also have provided general background information on terrorism, the determination whether or not this testimony would have been helpful to the jury rested squarely within the trial court's discretion. See Fed.R.Evid. 702. 98 Discretion was also properly exercised in limiting appellants' cross-examination of plaintiffs' experts to scenarios that had evidentiary support in the record. Cross-examination of plaintiffs' experts as to other causation theories--absent a good-faith basis to believe those theories had evidentiary support--was properly excluded. Trial courts possess wide discretion in limiting cross-examination, see N.V. Maatschappij Voor Industriele Waarden v. A.O. Smith Corp., 590 F.2d 415, 421 (2d Cir.1978), and here the precluded questions could have drawn the jury into misleading conjecture. Pan Am and Alert were permitted lengthy cross-examination of plaintiffs' experts, and were only barred from suggesting, without basis, that other scenarios caused the bombing. 99 It was also not error to decline to receive the testimony of terrorist bombings experts Peter Gurney and John Horne. Their testimony as to the importance of x-rays would have been cumulative since similar testimony was adduced from other witnesses. Additionally, these witnesses' expertise as to x-rays was questionable. Both witnesses were explosives officers with Scotland Yard who specialized in street bombings. Neither had experience in aviation bombings or security. Moreover, neither had any background or knowledge concerning the Flight 103 bombing itself; the trial court found this rendered their proposed testimony unhelpful and largely irrelevant. This ruling was well within the trial court's Fed.R.Evid. 702 discretion. 100 Contrary to appellants' suggestions throughout their briefs, Pan Am and Alert were not thereby prevented from presenting a defense on causation. Pan Am and Alert's summation focused at length and in detail on criticizing plaintiffs' causation theory; this remained Pan Am and Alert's main theme throughout cross-examination and their defense case as well. They vigorously attacked major and minor pieces of evidence alike. They were permitted to argue the possibility that a rush-tag bag, one by definition sent by the airline apart from its owner, was the unexplained, unaccompanied 13th interline bag x-rayed by operator Kurt Maier in Frankfurt. Importantly, appellants did not offer any fact witness to testify as to another method of bombing that might have caused Flight 103's crash. 101 Appellants admit that at trial they sought to argue that the method of bombing was not established and concede they were unable to suggest a specific alternate theory. They vigorously argued that the method of bombing was unclear, and accomplished this through extensive cross-examination of plaintiffs' experts. Pan Am and Alert also were not deterred from attacking plaintiffs' weaker theory that widespread misconduct on defendants part more likely than not caused the bomb to be loaded on Flight 103. In sum, Pan Am and Alert exercised the ample opportunities given them to undermine plaintiffs' causation theory. Thus, the rulings limiting cross-examination and expert testimony were unremarkable and without error. III OTHER EVIDENTIARY RULINGS 102 While appellants raise an array of objections to other evidentiary rulings--some of which patently involved judgment calls by the trial judge--none of them amount to reversible error. A. Plaintiffs' Experts' Testimony 103 Appellants' first objection is to the testimony of plaintiffs' expert witnesses, Rodney Wallis and Billie Vincent. Wallis and Vincent gave their opinions relying on evidence adduced at trial, at times displaying for purposes of reference trial transcripts on a projection screen. Based on this testimony, for example, Wallis opined that Pan Am was operating under a commercial rather than security priority and that training requirements had been violated. Vincent stated--again based on other record testimony--that Pan Am had committed acts that violated ACSSP XV C.1. (a). 104 Pan Am insists the Wallis and Vincent testimony involved improper summaries of evidence. But the cases relied on for support are inapposite because they do not address experts' summarizing record evidence, but rather they address summaries of evidence of the sort covered under Fed.R.Evid. 1006. See, e.g., Fagiola v. National Gypsum Co. AC & S., Inc., 906 F.2d 53, 56-57 (2d Cir.1990); United States v. Conlin, 551 F.2d 534, 538-39 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 831, 98 S.Ct. 114, 54 L.Ed.2d 91 (1977). Rule 1006 provides in part, The contents of voluminous writings, recordings, or photographs which cannot conveniently be examined in court may be presented in the form of a chart, summary, or calculation. It is of some significance that neither Wallis nor Vincent was giving the type of summary testimony that appears on a chart or graph. 105 The trial judge, therefore, properly ruled on the summary testimony under the federal rules governing expert testimony rather than under Rule 1006. Under those rules, expert testimony may be based on other testimony or evidence obtained at trial. See Fed.R.Evid. 703 (The facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the hearing.). No error occurred from the format of testimony summarizing the trial record or from the use of transparencies to highlight portions of the trial transcripts to which the witnesses referred when they were on the witness stand. 106 Wallis' and Vincent's summaries of testimony in the record did not, as appellants assert, improperly impinge on the jury's functions. Pan Am avers that in assessing other witnesses' testimony, Wallis and Vincent made credibility judgments that are properly reserved to the jury. They rely for this contention on United States v. Scop, 846 F.2d 135, 142, modified, 856 F.2d 5 (2d Cir.1988). There, it was said in dicta that one witness may not offer an opinion based on his or her assessment of the accuracy of another witness, where that other witness' credibility is to be determined by the trier of fact. Id. Even were Scop 's discussion of this point binding on us--and it is not--Scop does not in any event, control the outcome of the present case. 107 Wallis' and Vincent's testimonies were not improper simply because they were based on the testimony of others. Precedent has long acknowledged the acceptability of expert testimony based on the trial record. See, e.g., United States v. Johnson, 319 U.S. 503, 519-20, 63 S.Ct. 1233, 1241, 87 L.Ed. 1546 (1943). No doubt remains under the federal rules that an expert may testify based on facts elicited at trial. See Fed.R.Evid. 703. The rules also provide, testimony in the form of an opinion or inference otherwise admissible is not objectionable because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the trier of fact. Fed.R.Evid. 704(a). The credibility of a witness represents just such an ultimate issue normally decided by the jury. 108 Nor are we troubled by Vincent's testimony that he thought appellants engaged in fraud and deceit, because it was clear from the content of his direct and cross-examination that he used those terms in a non-legal sense. Neither do questions arise as to the propriety of testimony given by Wallis, because appellants highlight no specific statement by him containing a legal conclusion as to a specific ACSSP violation. Additionally, because Wallis had an extensive background in aviation security it was not an abuse of the trial court's discretion to permit him to testify regarding causation. 109 Pan Am's next contention has greater merit. It declares that plaintiffs' witnesses improperly offered legal opinions as to ACSSP violations. We agree that Vincent's statement as to his belief that Pan Am violated the ACSSP is dubious. While an expert witness may testify as to an ultimate fact issue the jury will decide, see Fed.R.Evid. 704, the general rule is that an expert may not testify as to what the law is, because such testimony would impinge on the trial court's function. See FAA v. Landy, 705 F.2d 624, 632 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 895, 104 S.Ct. 243, 78 L.Ed.2d 232 (1983). Permitting an expert to give a legal conclusion may implicitly provide a legal standard to the jury. See generally Hygh v. Jacobs, 961 F.2d 359, 363-64 (2d Cir.1992); 3 Jack B. Weinstein & Margaret A. Berger, Weinstein's Evidence p 704, at 704-11 to 13 (1993). Thus, expert testimony expressing a legal conclusion should ordinarily be excluded because such testimony is not the way in which a legal standard should be communicated to the jury. Vincent's testimony that he had been lead to the conclusion that Pan Am did indeed violate the ACSSP embodied a legal conclusion that crossed the fine line between a permissible conclusion as to an ultimate issue of fact and an impermissible legal conclusion. 110 Having said this much, we hasten to add that the introduction of Vincent's statement was not in our view a reversible error. First, defendants took no specific objection to this statement. By failing to object when the statement was made, the objection was waived. See Fed.R.Evid. 103(a)(1). Second, even had an objection been timely made, the error was harmless. Cf. Hygh, 961 F.2d at 364 (testimony on ultimate legal conclusion found harmless). Vincent's testimony directly conveyed to the jury that he was stating his own conclusion, it represented but a small portion of extensive testimony providing the basis for his opinion, and the trial judge instructed the jury that it was the ultimate judge of credibility and liability. Under the circumstances, this error--even had there been a proper objection raised--was harmless. 111 B. Detective Constable Henderson's Testimony 112 Scottish Detective Constable Derek Henderson provided deposition testimony as to his work in the Flight 103 investigation. He was assigned responsibility for matching certain bags--the ones that might have been placed in the flight container that was determined to have held the bag with the bomb--with passengers on the aircraft. Henderson prepared his report largely through compiling computerized records of bags. These computerized records had been set up to amass reports from passengers' and crew members' friends and relatives, and from evidence obtained at the scene of the crash. 113 Appellants object to the admission of the detective's testimony and his report. Based on his analysis of passenger records and information obtained from passengers' and crew members' friends and relatives, Henderson determined that the Samsonite bag containing the bomb was an unaccompanied bag from the Frankfurt flight. Defendants moved to exclude his reports as based on multiple layers of hearsay; Henderson had compiled his reports based upon other officers' reports of interviews they had conducted in this necessarily lengthy and involved investigation. 114 We believe the evidence was properly received under Fed.R.Evid. 803(8)(C), which provides an exception to the hearsay rule for reports of public agencies containing factual findings resulting from an investigation made pursuant to authority granted by law, unless the sources of information or other circumstances indicate lack of trustworthiness. See also Beech Aircraft Corp. v. Rainey, 488 U.S. 153, 167, 109 S.Ct. 439, 448, 102 L.Ed.2d 445 (1988) (upholding broad admissibility of facts in government reports, unless circumstances demonstrate lack of trustworthiness). The determination as to any lack of trustworthiness remains one properly left to the district court, id., and its decision to admit a report under Fed.R.Evid. 803(8)(C) is one that we will uphold absent a manifest error. See Gentile v. County of Suffolk, 926 F.2d 142, 151 (2d Cir.1991). 115 Here there was no explicit finding of trustworthiness, but no such finding is required before an official report under Rule 803(8)(C) may be received. The plain language of the rule establishes general admissibility, unless a report is deemed to be untrustworthy. See Fed.R.Evid. 803(8) advisory committee's note; Kehm v. Procter & Gamble Mfg. Co., 724 F.2d 613, 618 (8th Cir.1983). The district court carefully examined the report and did not make a finding of a lack of trustworthiness. Although the trial court did provide a detailed consideration of reliability concerns, it had no duty to state it found the report trustworthy. 116 In any event, adequate evidence demonstrates trustworthiness in the case at hand. The Advisory Committee's Note on Rule 803(8) suggests several factors to consider in determining trustworthiness: 1) timeliness of the investigation, 2) the investigator's skill or experience, 3) whether a hearing was held, and 4) possible bias or motivation problems in the report. See Fed.R.Evid. 803(8) advisory committee's note. The investigation was timely, Henderson was an experienced and skilled investigator, and no bias may be presumed in the Scottish investigation. We cannot say the trial court abused its discretion in entertaining the report, particularly given its cautionary instructions to the jury concerning the report. 117 C. X-Ray Demonstration of Radio-Cassette Player 118 Pan Am and Alert also sought to include an x-ray demonstration as part of their defense to show how clearly a radio-cassette player would appear on the screen. Such a demonstration was ultimately ruled irrelevant, given plaintiffs' offer to stipulate that a radio-cassette player would be visible on an x-ray screen. Pan Am and Alert nevertheless declare the demonstration would have generally supported Pan Am x-ray operator Kurt Maier's testimony that he x-rayed all the interline bags transferred to Flight 103 in Frankfurt. 119 The x-ray demonstration would not have either shaken or bolstered Maier's testimony since he said he could not remember whether any radios or cassette players appeared in any of the bags on Flight 103. More important, because plaintiffs stipulated that a radio cassette player would be clearly recognizable in an x-ray image the proffered demonstration would have been cumulative, and therefore inadmissible in the district court's discretion under Fed.R.Evid. 403. When a fact is undisputed and conceded, evidence attempted to be introduced to prove such fact may be excluded. See United States v. Edwards, 631 F.2d 1049, 1051, aff'd, 633 F.2d 207 (2d Cir.1980). Although some cases have upheld the admission of proof respecting a conceded fact, the decision whether or not to do so is a matter that rests within the discretion of the trial court. See, e.g., United States v. Gantzer, 810 F.2d 349, 351 (2d Cir.1987). 120 IV DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF SOCIETY AND COMPANIONSHIP 121 Pan Am and Alert's last claims of error concern the damage awards. In each of the three cases whose damages phases were tried the jury was permitted to award compensatory damages to the decedent's spouse and children based on the loss of financial contributions, loss of services, loss of society and companionship, and loss of parental care. Appellants do not dispute the awards for the first two elements. But they contend that loss of society and companionship damages are not available under the Warsaw Convention, and that damages for the loss of parental care should not be available to adult children of crash victims. 122 As we noted in Lockerbie I, damages in a Warsaw Convention case are governed by federal common law principles consistent with the Convention's terms. Lockerbie I, 928 F.2d at 1278-79; see also Harris v. Polskie Linie Lotnicze, 820 F.2d 1000, 1002 (9th Cir.1989) (damages are to be measured according to the internal law of a party to the [Warsaw] Convention). Article 17 of the convention provides for recovery of compensatory damages. See Warsaw Convention, art. 17; Lockerbie I, 928 F.2d at 1280-81. The first damages question to be analyzed is whether compensatory damages under the Convention include damages for loss of society and companionship. This question is answered by an examination of maritime law, which is probably the oldest body of federal common law. See In re Mexico City Aircrash, 708 F.2d 400, 414-15 (9th Cir.1983) (looking to general federal maritime law in holding that the Warsaw Convention creates a cause of action for wrongful death). 123 Appellants agree that maritime law is an appropriate source of law for resolving this issue. But they would have us look only to maritime cases brought under the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C.App. Secs. 76168 (DOHSA), and the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.App. Sec. 688, which preclude recovery for loss of society damages. See, e.g., Miles v. Apex Marine Corp., 498 U.S. 19, 31-33, 111 S.Ct. 317, 325-326, 112 L.Ed.2d 275 (1990). General maritime law cases that are not bound by a statutory restriction, in contrast, allow recovery for loss of society. See, e.g., American Export Lines, Inc. v. Alvez, 446 U.S. 274, 280-83, 100 S.Ct. 1673, 1676-1679, 64 L.Ed.2d 284 (1980); Sea-Land Servs., Inc. v. Gaudet, 414 U.S. 573, 585-88, 94 S.Ct. 806, 814-816, 39 L.Ed.2d 9 (1974). 124 The distinguishing feature in these cases is that the statutes, under which cases precluding loss of society damages have been brought, either expressly limit (DOHSA) or have been interpreted to limit (Jones Act) damages to pecuniary loss. See Mobil Oil Corp. v. Higginbotham, 436 U.S. 618, 620-25, 98 S.Ct. 2010, 2012-2015, 56 L.Ed.2d 581 (1978) (loss of society damages are not recoverable under DOHSA because Congress explicitly limited survivors' recovery to their pecuniary losses); Miles, 498 U.S. at 31-32, 111 S.Ct. at 325 (loss of society damages are not recoverable under Jones Act because in incorporating the Federal Employers' Liability Act Congress must have intended to incorporate the pecuniary limitation on damages as well). 125 Because we cannot resolve this issue by reference to the common law alone, in light of the conflict between the statutory cases that deny loss of society and the general maritime cases that, along with the majority of states, permit recovery of damages for loss of society, we must look to the Convention itself to determine which of the maritime rules--statutory or general--is most consistent with the language used and the intent of the parties to the treaty. Analyzing Article 17 of the Convention, we look first to its text. The Warsaw Convention has to be evaluated by examining the governing text as drafted in French. See Eastern Airlines, Inc. v. Floyd, 499 U.S. 530, 534-35, 111 S.Ct. 1489, 1493, 113 L.Ed.2d 569 (1991); Air France v. Saks, 470 U.S. 392, 399, 105 S.Ct. 1338, 1342, 84 L.Ed.2d 289 (1985). The English language translation of Article 17 simply provides, in relevant part, The carrier shall be liable for damage sustained in the event of the death or wounding of a passenger.... The original text of Article 17 provides for compensation for dommage survenu; the accepted English language translation of this phrase is damage sustained. See Warsaw Convention, art. 17; 49 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1502 note (1988). No limit to pecuniary loss appears in the text. The aim of the Convention's drafters and signatories appears from the simple language of the text to provide full compensatory damages for any injuries or death covered by the Convention. See In Re Korean Air Lines Disaster, 932 F.2d at 1486-7; Lockerbie I, 928 F.2d at 1281. 126 While our sources from which to determine the signatories' intent is limited, scholarly treatises on the subject agree that the French civil law recognized all sorts of damages, pecuniary and nonpecuniary. See In re Korean Air Lines Disaster, 932 F.2d at 1487 (citing G. Miller, Liability in International Air Transport 112 (1977) and R. Mankiewicz, The Liability Regime of the International Air Carrier 157 (1981)). We encountered no understanding in French law that might support limiting dommage survenu to exclude loss of society awards. 127 In light of the broad language in the Warsaw Convention covering damage sustained and the lack of authority suggesting that the drafters wanted to limit compensatory damages to pecuniary loss, we are informed by general maritime law principles set forth in Gaudet and its progeny and hold the Warsaw Convention permits damage awards for loss of society and companionship. Accord In re Korean Air Lines Disaster, 814 F.Supp. 592, 597-98 (E.D.Mich.1993); In re Korean Air Lines Disaster, 807 F.Supp. 1073, 1086-88 (S.D.N.Y.1992). Such holding does not completely dispose of the loss of society damages issue, because the district court did not in any way limit who was entitled to loss of society damages. 128 Gaudet and Alvez allowed spouses to recover for loss of society. See 414 U.S. at 574, 587-88, 94 S.Ct. at 809, 816; 446 U.S. at 276, 100 S.Ct. at 1674-75. In doing so, the Alvez court noted that this was consistent with the majority of states' permitting recovery to a wife for loss of consortium, which incorporates loss of society, from personal injury to her husband. See 446 U.S. at 284, 100 S.Ct. at 1679 & n. 11. Lower federal courts have read these cases to permit dependents to recover as well as spouses for loss of society damages. See Miles v. Melrose, 882 F.2d 976, 989 (5th Cir.1989), aff'd 498 U.S. 19, 111 S.Ct. 317, 112 L.Ed.2d 275 (1990); Sistrunk v. Circle Bar Drilling Co., 770 F.2d 455, 458-59 (5th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1019, 106 S.Ct. 1205, 89 L.Ed.2d 318 (1986); Anderson v. Whittaker Corp., 692 F.Supp. 734, 770-71 (W.D.Mich.1987), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 894 F.2d 804 (6th Cir.1990); Truehart v. Blandon, 672 F.Supp. 929, 932-33 (E.D.La.1987), rev'd on other grounds, 884 F.2d 223 (5th Cir.1989). But see DeLoach v. Companhia de Navegacao Lloyd Brasileiro, 782 F.2d 438, 441-43 (3d Cir.1986) (declining to permit dependent child to recover loss of society damages). 129 We find no maritime case extending loss of society damages to plaintiffs other than spouses and dependents. We therefore affirm the loss of society awards to the Bainbridge and Porter families, since these families consisted of only spouses and dependant children. But the loss of society award to the Pagnucco family must be vacated since some of the family members were adult children and may or may not have been dependents. We remand this limited issue as it applies to the Pagnuccos to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 130 On the issue of damages for lost parental care, we also must vacate and remand all three plaintiffs' cases to the district court because the district court erroneously instructed the jury on this issue. Damages for lost parental care are considered a pecuniary loss and are therefore recoverable. See Gaudet, 414 U.S. at 585, 94 S.Ct. at 814-15. Appellants correctly contend the district court erred in declining to instruct the jury that damages for loss of fatherly care and guidance must be limited to the period of a child's minority, absent a showing of specific circumstances that the father's guidance had a pecuniary value beyond the irreplaceable values of companionship and affection. First Nat'l Bank in Greenwich v. National Airlines, Inc., 288 F.2d 621, 624 (2d Cir.1961). Since no such limitation was charged to the jury on this damages issue, the jury awards for loss of parental care may not stand. 131 On remand, the district court should instruct the jury that it may take into consideration the care, attention, instruction, training, advice, and guidance the evidence shows the father might reasonably have been expected to give his children and to include the pecuniary value thereof in the damages it assesses. The damages for such loss must be limited to the period of a child's minority, absent a showing of specific circumstances that the father's guidance had a pecuniary value beyond that period.