Opinion ID: 266961
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Choice of Forum

Text: 5 Article 28(1) of the Warsaw Convention provides: 6 'An action for damages must be brought, at the option of the plaintiff, in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, either before the court of the domicile of the carrier or of his principal place of business, or where he has a place of business through which the contract has been made, or before the court at the place of destination.' 7 Defendant argues that Article 28(1) establishes four 'places' within the territory of a High Contracting Party where an action for damages can be brought; 1 and that a court located in another 'place' within the territory of a High Contracting Party is without subject matter jurisdiction to maintain an action arising out of an airflight covered by the Convention, notwithstanding the internal jurisdictional laws. Defendant moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the ground that the District Court for the Southern District of New York was not located in a 'place' that satisfied the criteria of Article 28(1). The principal place of business of the carrier was Burbank, California; the alleged contract of transportation was made at Travis Air Force Base at San Francisco, California; the place of destination was a point in Japan; and the domicile of the carrier was claimed to be the state of incorporation, Delaware. 8 However, we read Article 28(1) quite differently. The 'places' specified refer to the High Contracting Parties, not to areas within a particular High Contracting Party. An action may be brought, at the option of the plaintiff, in the territory of a High Contracting Party, if the domicile of the carrier, the principal place of business of the carrier, the place of business at which the contract was made, or the place of destination is within that country. Plaintiff's choice of forum within that country is governed by the internal law, with all its intricacies and complexities, not by the Warsaw Convention. Pardonnet v. Flying Tiger Line, Inc., 233 F.Supp. 683 (N.D.Ill.1964); Pitman v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 223 F.Supp. 887 (E.D.Pa.1963); Spencer v. Northwest Orient Airlines, Inc., 201 F.Supp. 504 (S.D.N.Y.1962); see McKenry, Judicial Jurisdiction Under the Warsaw Convention, 29 J. Air L. & Com. 205 (1963); Robbins, Jurisdiction Under Article 28 of the Warsaw Convention, 9 McGill L.J. 352 (1963). 9 The basic unit of international law is the nation-state and it is fair to assume, absent clear indications to the contrary, that Article 28(1), was written with reference to nation-states, not to areas and subdivisions of nation-states. The minutes of negotiations surrounding the drafting of the Treaty do not reveal the slightest concern with the problems relating to choice of forum within a nation-state, and in fact the discussion on Article 28(1) contains some indications that the drafters merely attempted to control choice of forum at the level of nation-states. See Minutes of II Conference Internationale de Droit Prive Aerien, 4-12 Octobre 1929, Varsovie, ICAO Doc. 7838; Calkins, 26 J. Air L. & Com. 217, 229 (1959). The United States Senate certainly did not indicate that it understood that the Warsaw Convention would have any impact upon the rules governing the choice of forum within the federal system, or among the various states, see 78 Cong. Rec. 11577 (1934). 10 An analysis of the text leads us to the same conclusion. Under our interpretation plaintiff's choice of forum is restricted to the High Contracting Parties and it is further restricted to a High Contracting Party that is one of the enumerated places, thereby disqualifying, for example, the forums in the High Contracting Party where the accident fortunitously occurred, see Calkins, supra, p. 231, or those in the High Contracting Party where the passenger was domiciled, or those in other High Contracting Parties that had absolutely no contact with the flight, carrier, or passenger. Under defendant's interpretation it would be difficult to determine the geographical bounds of the 'places' referred to: would they be cities, countries, states, judicial districts, circuits, provinces, cantons, or regions? On the other hand, if the enumerated places referred to High Contracting Parties the 'places' can be given a more stable and uniform geographical definition-- the territory of a High Contracting Party, a concept that is introduced in Article 1 of the Convention. 11 The United States certainly qualifies as one of the 'places' enumerated in Article 28(1) and that is sufficient basis for denying defendant's motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; the domicile of the carrier, its principal place of business, and its place of business where the contract was made are all within the United States. Nothing we have said precludes a defendant, even if the Warsaw Convention is applicable, from objecting to venue, under 28 U.S.C. 1391, or moving for a transfer under 28 U.S.C. 1404(a), or from making similar maneuvers in the state systems. But in such an instance the choice of forum will be governed by the internal rules of the High Contracting Party, not the Warsaw Convention. Judge Wyatt, in passing on defendant's motion, did not consider whether the proper venue of this action was the Southern District under 1391, or whether defendant was entitled to a transfer under 1404(a). Defendant did not object to venue or move to transfer and its time for doing so had long passed; defendant answered in May 1959, and had not moved to dismiss until almost four years later, in February 1963. Moreover, nothing we have said should be interpreted as passing on the question whether a defendant would be entitled to a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction (a right that could be asserted by a party or the court at any stage of a proceeding, see, e.g., Rule 12(h), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) if the United States is not one of four enumerated 'places' or Article 28(1) (see, e.g., McKenry, supra, at 225 n. 68). Compare, e.g., Mason v. British Overseas Airways Corp., 1961 U.S.Av.R. 617 (S.D.N.Y.1956) (treating Article 28(1) as relating to 'venue') with, e.g., Nudo v. Societe Anonyme Belge D'Exploitation de la Navigation Aerienne, 207 F.Supp. 191 (E.D.Pa.1962) and Martino v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 1961 U.S.Av.R. 651 (N.D.Ill.1961), treating Article 28(1) as relating to 'jurisdiction').