Opinion ID: 780554
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Accident as proximate cause of Dr. Hanson's death

Text: 46 For a carrier to be liable to a passenger for an injury, the passenger must prove the accident caused the injury. Saks, 470 U.S. at 396, 105 S.Ct. 1338. Any injury is the product of a chain of causes and the passenger need only prove some link in the chain was an unusual or unexpected event external to the passenger. Id. at 406, 105 S.Ct. 1338. 47 Olympic argues that Dr. Hanson's death resulted from his pre-existing food allergies, noting that the meal served on Flight 417 included numerous food items to which Dr. Hanson was allergic. Pointing to past incidents where Dr. Hanson suffered medical problems ostensibly after eating foods to which he was allergic, Olympic further asserts the exact cause of Dr. Hanson's death is unknown because food-related anaphylaxis cannot be ruled out and there was no evidence presented to show asthma caused his death. Finally, Olympic asserts there was no evidence Dr. Hanson would have lived had Olympic found him a different seat. 48 Plaintiffs counter that the evidence showed secondhand smoke around Dr. Hanson's seat was heavy, especially after mealtime, and that there was no evidence showing anaphylaxis caused Dr. Hanson's death. Plaintiffs also assert that secondhand smoke need not be the sole cause of Dr. Hanson's death, as long as it is a cause. 49 In its findings of fact, the district court rejected the assertion that Dr. Hanson died as a result of food-related anaphylaxis. Rather, the district court found Dr. Hanson's died as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke. The district court stated: 50 The Court cannot credit defendant's suggestion that Dr. Hanson's breathing problems prior to the meal were causally unrelated to his later asphyxiation. The evidence before the Court suggests exactly the opposite conclusion. Dr. Hanson explicitly complained that smoke was affecting his breathing just hours before his death, complained to his wife about the level of cigarette smoke on the plane, and relied extensively on his inhaler for support during the hours leading to his fatal attack. To conclude, as defendant urges, that the smoke on Flight 417 did not trigger Dr. Hanson's death is to ignore the chain of events leading up to his attack. 51 Husain, 116 F.Supp.2d at 1128-29. Further, the district court considered Dr. Hanson's previous reactions to food and the food served on the plane, yet found Dr. Hanson was suffering breathing difficulties before the meal on the airplane was served and that there was not any testimony that Dr. Hanson ate any of the foods he was allergic to while on Flight 417. 52 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. 53 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. 54 C. Dr. Hanson's Death Was Proximately Caused by Olympic's Willful Misconduct Under Article 25 of the Warsaw Convention 55 Carrier liability for injuries caused by an accident is usually limited to $75,000 per passenger. However, Article 25 provides that injuries that result from the carrier's willful misconduct or the willful misconduct of an employee acting within the scope of her employment are excluded from the liability limits. 7 Warsaw Convention, art. 25. Article 25 does not create a separate cause of action and therefore a plaintiff must establish both an accident and willful misconduct to be able to recover above the $75,000 limit. McDowell v. Cont'l Airlines, 54 F.Supp.2d 1313, 1321 (S.D.Fla.1999). 56 Willful misconduct has been defined as the intentional performance of an act with knowledge that the ... act will probably result in injury or damage or the intentional performance of an act in such a manner as to imply reckless disregard of the probable consequences. 8 Koirala, 126 F.3d at 1209 (quoting Johnson v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 834 F.2d 721, 724 (9th Cir. 1987)). At a minimum, a plaintiff must prove the carrier must have known of the risk to prove willful misconduct. Piamba Cortes v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 177 F.3d 1272, 1291 (11th Cir.1999). Determining willful misconduct is based on a subjective standard and can be satisfied through circumstantial evidence. Koirala, 126 F.3d at 1211. 57 In Koirala, a plane crashed into a mountain after the crew flew in the wrong direction for six minutes while attempting to land in Kathmandu. Id. at 1208. Thai Airways argued that the evidence showed the crew was stressed because of poor weather and difficult landing conditions and that the evidence did not show the crew consciously failed to look at their instruments. Id. at 1210. This Court found the district court did not clearly err in finding willful misconduct given the crew's failure to realize the plane was flying in the wrong direction for six minutes. Id. In reaching its conclusion, this Court paid particular attention to expert testimony offered by the plaintiffs to establish the standard of care. Id. at 1211. 58 Like the crew in Koirala, Ms. Leptourgou's failure to take action, either by moving Dr. Hanson or by notifying the chief cabin attendant of Ms. Husain's request to have her husband moved, was willful misconduct. The district court concluded Ms. Leptourgou must have known that the cabin was not full, that Dr. Hanson had a medical problem and a special susceptibility to smoke, and that her failure to move him would aggravate his condition and cause him probable injury. Husain, 116 F.Supp.2d at 1139. This conclusion is supported by the record in this case, including the highly credible testimony of Ms. Husain. Additionally, because Ms. Leptourgou did not testify in person or by deposition, Ms. Husain's version of events was uncontradicted. 59 Of equal import was testimony by Plaintiffs' expert that Ms. Leptourgou was aware of the industry standard of care and Olympic policy regarding passengers requesting seat transfers for medical reasons. This established that Ms. Leptourgou should have assisted Dr. Hanson in finding a new seat, especially since there were available seats further away from the smoking section. Ms. Leptourgou's duty to act was compounded by the urgency of Ms. Husain's requests. 60 Olympic argues that Plaintiffs did not show Ms. Leptourgou engaged in misconduct or that she was subjectively aware of the risk of harm to Dr. Hanson. In Olympic's view, all of the seats in Ms. Leptourgou's section were full so she was not aware the flight was not totally full, and she was not aware of the risk of harm to Dr. Hanson because he did not ask to be moved, nor did he or Ms. Husain seek a different seat when Ms. Leptourgou told them they could. Even so, she still did not advise the crew chief of the problem. 61 However, as the district court determined, Ms. Husain was not merely a typical passenger complaining about an inconvenient seat assignment, because her repeated requests became increasingly emphatic and desperate. Id. Based on Ms. Husain's testimony, the district court found Ms. Leptourgou could not have failed to recognize that Dr. Hanson's problem was a medical one and that sitting near the smoking section was likely to cause him injury. Id. Despite this, Ms. Leptourgou deliberately closed her eyes to the probable consequences of her acts. Id. 62 The district court, as the trier of fact in this matter, was in a superior position to appraise and weigh the evidence, and its determination regarding the credibility of witnesses is entitled to special deference. See Anderson v. City of Bessemer, 470 U.S. 564, 573-75, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985); Allen v. Iranon, 283 F.3d 1070, 1078 n. 8 (9th Cir.2002). The district court's decision was based on the testimony of Ms. Husain, Plaintiffs' expert, and Olympic's own employees, and is well-grounded in the record. While establishment of willful misconduct requires a party to satisfy a high burden, the evidence before the district court in this case is sufficient to meet that burden. The facts in the record establish that Ms. Leptourgou was aware that Dr. Hanson was in a desperate situation that required immediate assistance, yet despite this knowledge and increasingly emphatic pleas from Ms. Husain, Ms. Leptourgou ignored Olympic's policy and industry standards and refused to assist Dr. Hanson. This amounts to a dereliction of duty that is not only unusual and unexpected on an international flight, but willful. 63 The district court's conclusion that Ms. Leptourgou's actions were willful misconduct cannot be disturbed on review unless we are left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made. Sec. Farms v. Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters, 124 F.3d 999, 1014 (9th Cir.1997). Based on facts in the record and the exhaustive findings by the district court, we cannot conclude that a mistake has been made.