Aboujdid v. Gulf Aviation Company, Ltd.
| Decision Date | 26 January 1982 |
| Citation | 448 N.Y.S.2d 427,86 A.D.2d 564 |
| Parties | Joseph ABOUJDID, et al., Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. GULF AVIATION COMPANY, LTD., etc., et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
S. M. Speiser, New York City, for respondents. K. B. Posner and M. J. Corrigan, New York City, for appellants.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Greenfield, J.), entered on February 4, 1981, unanimously affirmed. Respondents shall recover of appellants one bill of $75 costs and disbursements of this appeal.
This action arises out of the airplane highjacking that culminated in the stirring Israeli raid and rescue at Entebee. There are ninety-three plaintiffs, eighty-nine of whom are nonresidents of New York and most of whom are residents of Israel. They were passengers on an Air France flight that originated in Tel Aviv, bound for Paris, that was highjacked in Athens, from whence it was flown first to Libya and finally to Uganda. The alleged negligence of the defendants, the failure to search the highjackers for arms, would have occurred for defendant Singapore Airlines in Bahrain and for defendant Gulf Aviation in Abu Dhabi. A similar action involving most of these plaintiffs was commenced in Illinois against Air France and Singapore Airlines. It was eventually dismissed (see The People of the State of Illinois v. Giliberto, 74 Ill.2d 90, 23 Ill.Dec. 106, 383 N.E.2d 977). The court held,inter alia, that either England, Greece, France or the Netherlands would be a more convenient forum. Singapore Airlines then moved to dismiss this action asserting that the United Kingdom is a more convenient forum. Gulf Aviation joined in the motion, relying upon the facts and the law stated by its codefendant. Noting that "the doctrine of forum non conveniens presupposes the existence of a second more convenient forum: (citing Varkonyi v. Varig, 22 N.Y.2d 333, 339 ) and that "Greece and Uganda are not the forums of choice for anybody" (Aboujdid v. Gulf Aviation, 108 Misc.2d 175, 178, 437 N.Y.S.2d 219), Special Term properly held that on the facts before it the United Kingdom was not shown to be a more convenient forum. It denied defendants' motion to dismiss, leaning heavily on the interest of New York, as a center for international air travel, in the security of its residents. On appeal defendant Gulf Aviation raised for...
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Credit Francais Intern., S.A. v. Sociedad Financiera De Comercio, C.A.
...the parties and facts of the action and New York. See Aboujdid v. Gulf Aviation, 108 Misc.2d 175, 437 N.Y.S.2d 219, aff'd. 86 A.D.2d 564, 448 N.Y.S.2d 427. and the court declared: "The United States has an interest in maintaining New York's status as one of the foremost commercial centers i......
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Cesar v. United Technology of New York
...jurisdiction even though the nexus with the state is slight. Aboujdid v. Gulf Aviation, 108 Misc.2d 175, 437 N.Y.S.2d 219, aff'd 86 A.D.2d 564, 448 N.Y.S.2d 427. When the motion to dismiss is granted pursuant to CPLR 327, provision is made that the dismissal may be "on any conditions that m......
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Aboujdid v. Singapore Airlines, Ltd.
... ... Joseph ABOUJDID et al., Appellants-Respondents, ... SINGAPORE AIRLINES, LTD., Respondent, ... Gulf Aviation, Ltd., Respondent-Appellant ... Naim EL-MANI, Appellant-Respondent, ... GULF AVIATION, ... ...
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Aboujdid v. Singapore Airlines, Ltd.
...court that it had a defense of sovereign immunity. Special Term adhered to its denial. Its order was affirmed by this court (see 86 A.D.2d 564, 448 N.Y.S.2d 427). In the interim between the order and its affirmance, Singapore Airlines answered the Aboujdid complaint. It alleged an affirmati......