Opinion ID: 550651
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Coverage of the Warsaw Convention

Text: 5 Section 1 of Article 18 of the Warsaw Convention provides that liability under the Convention extends to any damage to baggage or goods sustained during transportation by air. This phrase is defined in section 2 of Article 18 as the period during which the baggage or goods are in charge of the carrier, whether in an airport or on board an aircraft. However, section 3 of the same article provides, in pertinent part: 6 The period of the transportation by air shall not extend to any transportation by land ... performed outside an airport. If, however, such transportation takes place in the performance of a contract for transportation by air, for the purpose of loading, delivery or transshipment, any damage is presumed, subject to proof to the contrary, to have been the result of an event which took place during the transportation by air. 7 All the parties agree that the loss of the coumadin shipment occurred at Emery's warehouse, located near but nonetheless outside the boundaries of Kennedy Airport. It would appear, therefore, that the plain language of Article 18 would exclude the loss from the scope of the Warsaw Convention. Emery and Lassen attempt to avoid the implications of the plain language, however, by offering what Lassen describes as a more practical, sensible interpretation of Article 18, extending the coverage of the Warsaw Convention to include the storage of cargo at a place outside of the airport until the goods are picked up by the consignee pursuant to the carriage contract. See, e.g., Royal Ins. v. Amerford Air Cargo, 654 F.Supp. 679, 681-83 (S.D.N.Y.1987); Magnus Electronics, Inc. v. Royal Bank of Canada, 611 F.Supp. 436, 439-40 (N.D.Ill.1985). They further suggest that the language of Article 18 must be viewed in the light of modern commercial realities so that Emery's warehouse, despite its location outside of the airport's official boundaries, may be deemed to be functionally part of the airport. Although cognizant of the commercial realities that may force the location of a warehouse outside of the actual confines of an airport, we must reject the proposed interpretation of Article 18 because it has no support in the language of the Convention. 8 Our interpretation of Article 18 must begin with the literal language of the provision. We would end there if that language [is] reasonably susceptible of only one interpretation. Buonocore v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 900 F.2d 8, 9-10 (2d Cir.1990). Furthermore, when the text of a treaty is clear, a court shall not, through interpretation, alter or amend the treaty. Chan v. Korean Air Lines, Ltd., 490 U.S. 122, 109 S.Ct. 1676, 1683-84, 104 L.Ed.2d 113 (1989). 9 The plain language of Article 18 draws the line at the airport's border. The Convention's coverage excludes any transportation by land outside of the airport. Although Article 18 creates a presumption that any damage or loss occurring during the performance of a contract for air transportation was the result of an event during transportation by air, that is, on board an aircraft or within an airport, the presumption may be rebutted by evidence demonstrating that the loss occurred on land outside the airport. 10 Our interpretation of Article 18, contrary to the suggestion of the dissenting opinion, does not limit the meaning of transportation by air to actual air transportation. Rather, as the plain language of Article 18 directs, transportation by air would include a loss occurring while the cargo was in the air or on the ground but within the confines of the airport's boundaries. Under the dissenter's view, even if there is undisputed evidence, as here, that the loss occurred outside of the airport during transportation by land, the Convention governs as long as the land transportation was part of the carriage contract. This interpretation would effectively render nugatory Article 18's command that [t]he period of the transportation by air shall not extend to any transportation by land ... performed outside an airport. This cannot be the result intended by the Convention's drafters. 11 Because the shipment of coumadin was admittedly lost at Emery's warehouse outside the airport, the presumption favoring Warsaw Convention coverage has been rebutted and the Convention does not govern. A different interpretation might be more sensible, as appellees suggest, but to engraft such an interpretation onto the plain language of Article 18 would require an impermissible judicial amendment of the Convention. See Chan, 109 S.Ct. at 1684. The district court therefore erred in its conclusion that the Warsaw Convention governed appellants' claims and limited their recovery. 1