Supreme Court of the United States
El Al Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tsui Yuan Tseng
January 12, 1999525 U.S. 155
Summary
Justice Ginsburg, writing for eight Justices, held that the Warsaw Convention bars personal injury claims under local law for occurrences within its substantive scope even when the passenger cannot satisfy the Convention's conditions for recovery. The Convention's text, structure, drafting history, uniformity objective, and interpretation by other signatories support that exclusivity; Montreal Protocol No. 4 clarifies rather than changes it. The Court reversed the Second Circuit's judgment. Justice Stevens dissented alone, arguing that the Convention did not clearly preempt claims arising from nonaccidents and that treaties should receive the same presumption against preemption as federal statutes.
Holding
- Exclusivity of the Warsaw Convention when its liability conditions are not satisfied.. A passenger cannot maintain an action for personal injury damages under local law for an occurrence aboard an aircraft or during embarking or disembarking when recovery is unavailable under the Convention. Preemption does not extend to injuries outside the Convention's substantive scope.
- Effect of Montreal Protocol No. 4 on the Convention's exclusivity.. Montreal Protocol No. 4 clarifies, rather than alters, the Convention's preexisting rule barring alternative local-law recovery within its substantive scope.
Docket 97-475
Cited authorities
- Warsaw Convention
- Warsaw Convention
- Montreal Protocol
- Warsaw Convention
- Warsaw Convention
- Warsaw Convention
- Warsaw Convention
- Warsaw Convention
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- Adegoke v. Delta Airlines, Inc.
- Ong v. American Airlines Inc