|
Death On The High Seas Act — A New Amendment For Aviation Cases Becomes Law
Our firm has played a key role in promoting statutory changes to the Death on the High Seas Act, known as DOHSA, a 1920 statute that has been applied to sharply limit damages suffered by victims of airline disasters to economic losses only. DOHSA applies to accidents "on the high seas." Under current law, DOHSA applies to the Egyptair Flight 990 disaster, which occurred on international waters, and has been raised as a defense by the defendants in the TWA Flight 800 and Swissair Flight 111 cases, despite the fact that those disasters occurred on territorial waters and not on the high seas. The recent Alaska Airlines Flight 261 disaster has placed heightened scrutiny on DOHSA and demonstrated that application of the law to aircraft which routinely pass over international waters on domestic and international flights makes no sense.
On April 5, 2000, a new amendment to DOHSA became law. The amendment applies retroactively to commercial aviation accidents which occur after July 16, 1996 (the day before the TWA 800 disaster).
The amendment confirms the ruling of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the TWA 800 case that DOHSA does not govern accidents that occur within 12 miles of the united states shore. As a result, state law remedies, including punitive damages and conscious pain and suffering, may be recoverable.
The amendment makes it clear that the Alaska Airlines disaster is not subject to DOHSA. The amendment further provides that for accidents beyond 12 miles, DOHSA applies but additional non-pecuniary damages are recoverable, which are defined as "care, comfort and companionship." The amendment does not address whether DOHSA applies on foreign territorial waters, a matter currently under review in the Swissair Flight 111 disaster case. The amendment is significant because it ends the arbitrary DOHSA economic damage limitation in commercial aviation accidents which happen to occur on the high seas. The families of passengers killed in aviation disasters will be able to recover damages for non-economic losses and will not face the prospect of a sharply reduced recovery. The legislation did not, however, alter court rulings which have held that DOHSA does not permit punitive damages or damages for conscious pain and suffering.
A copy of the bill is available. Click here for the PDF file.
|
