Air Disaster at Lockerbie Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, In re

• Citation: 37 F.3d 804
• Parties: 40 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 318 In re AIR DISASTER AT LOCKERBIE SCOTLAND ON
• Decision Date: 21 December 1988
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit)

Page 804

37 F.3d 804

40 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 318

In re AIR DISASTER AT LOCKERBIE SCOTLAND ON DECEMBER 21, 1988.

Judith A. PAGNUCCO, Individually and as Executrix of the

Estate of Robert I. Pagnucco, deceased; Molena A. Porter,

Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Walter

L. Porter, deceased and Dona Bardelli Bainbridge,

Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Harry M.

Bainbridge, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC., and Alert Management

Systems, Inc., Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 1280-1282, Dockets 92-9251, 92-9253 and 92-9255.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Petition for Rehearing Submitted

April 6, 1994.

Decided Sept. 12, 1994.

Van Graafeiland, Circuit Judge, dissented and filed an opinion.

Richard M. Sharp, Washington, DC (Frederick C. Schafrick, Eric C. Jeffrey, Lisa A. Landsman, Shea & Gardner, Washington, DC; Clinton H. Coddington, Coddington, Hicks & Danforth, Redwood City, CA, James M. Shaughnessy, Windels, Marx, Davies & Ives, New York City, of counsel), for appellants.

Lee S. Kreindler, New York City (Steven R. Pounian, James P. Kreindler, Daniel M. Kolko, David L. Fiol, Kreindler & Kreindler, Frank H. Granito, Jr., Frank H. Granito, III, Speiser, Krause & Madole, Michel F. Baumeister, Baumeister & Samuels, of counsel), for appellees.

Before: VAN GRAAFEILAND, CARDAMONE and ALTIMARI, Circuit Judges.

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

Pan American World Airways, Inc. (Pan Am) and Alert Management Systems, Inc. (Alert) (collectively Pan Am, defendants or appellants) appeal from final judgments entered on September 9, 1992 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Platt, C.J.) in three cases arising out of the Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist bombing that occurred over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. The trial was bifurcated into a liability phase, binding on all plaintiffs whose cases were consolidated in this multidistrict litigation, and a damages phase governing the cases of the three plaintiffs before us. The damages phase will also set the standards for damage awards in future cases resulting from this tragic disaster. ¹

Few Americans have forgotten the bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland a few days before Christmas in 1988. There were 259 Americans aboard Pan Am's plane from all walks of life. Among the passengers were business executives, entrepreneurs, airline employees, and college students--including 38 Syracuse University students returning home from study abroad. Although four years have passed since this tragedy occurred, it remains vivid in our national consciousness, standing as a reminder of our The 13-week liability trial controlled all the consolidated cases that had been filed against Pan Am throughout the United States by the passengers' and the crews' survivors and representatives. Trial began April 27, 1992. The jurors heard lengthy testimony from 58 witnesses, much of which was introduced by the over 180 depositions obtained during massive discovery taken worldwide. At its close, the jury rendered a special verdict finding defendants guilty of wilful misconduct that caused the explosion and the crash.

collective vulnerability to wanton terrorist acts.

At the conclusion of the damages phase $9,225,000 was awarded to the Pagnucco family, $9,000,000 to the Bainbridge family, and $1,735,000 to the Porter family. Decedents Pagnucco and Bainbridge had been Pepsico attorneys, decedent Porter an electrician and part-time musician. The damage awards included damages for loss of society and damages for loss of parental care to adult children. No award for survival damages--sought by plaintiffs--was made because the jury found the passengers had suffered no conscious pain and suffering before their deaths. Pan Am and Alert appeal challenging the finding of liability and the damage awards.

BACKGROUND

On December 21, 1988 a bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 causing it to crash over Lockerbie, Scotland. The 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the flight traveling from London to New York all perished. Numerous plaintiffs, including those in the cases before us, brought wrongful death actions against Pan Am and Alert, a Pan Am affiliate that provided security services in London and in Frankfurt, where Flight 103 originated. All those actions were consolidated for trial in the Eastern District of New York.

A single jury trial was conducted before Chief Judge Platt to try the liability issues common to the passenger cases. The parties agreed that the case was governed by the Warsaw Convention, formally named the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Transportation by Air, done at Warsaw, Oct. 12, 1929, 49 Stat. 3000, T.S. No. 876, 137 L.N.T.S. 11, reprinted at 49 U.S.C. app. Sec. 1502 note (1988) [hereinafter Warsaw Convention]. Although the Warsaw Convention generally limits a carrier's liability for damages to $75,000 per passenger, Article 25 permits recovery of unlimited compensatory damages provided the carrier's "wilful misconduct" caused the damages. An earlier decision of this Circuit established that punitive damages may not be collected under the Warsaw Convention. In Re Air Disaster at Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988 ("Lockerbie I"), 928 F.2d 1267 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 331, 116 L.Ed.2d 272 (1991).

On July 10, 1992 the jury found that the defendants engaged in wilful misconduct that led to this fatal crash. The trial's liability phase centered on Pan Am's alleged noncompliance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directives concerning baggage inspection, particularly with regard to unaccompanied baggage that might contain explosives. Additional proof was introduced regarding other alleged misconduct on the air carrier's part. Plaintiffs contended that the bomb entered the flight on an unaccompanied bag that Pan Am, through its wilful misconduct, failed to inspect and detect. Under plaintiffs' theory--detailed by several expert witnesses--the bomb was hidden inside a radio-cassette player packed in a bronze Samsonite suitcase. The suitcase supposedly traveled from Malta to Frankfurt on Air Malta Flight 180. There, the experts posited, it was transferred to the first leg of Flight 103 from Frankfurt to London, where it was then placed on Flight 103 bound for New York.

Although bags transferred from other flights to Flight 103 in Frankfurt were x-rayed, plaintiffs asserted the airline's x-ray procedure violated security requirements contained in an FAA regulation at issue in this case, Air Carrier Standard Security Program or ACSSP XV.C.1. (a), which ensured that bags matched passengers and that any unaccompanied bags be physically inspected. Pan Am unsuccessfully argued to the jury In finding defendants liable the jury rendered a special verdict. On the special verdict form, it indicated that it had specifically found 1) that "Pan Am (including Alert) engage[d] in wilful misconduct," and 2) that the wilful misconduct was "a substantial factor in causing the disaster." Following the liability phase, the jury then awarded compensatory damages in the three plaintiffs' cases. There are 207 other passenger cases pending, all awaiting the outcome of this appeal.

that its actions did not amount to wilful misconduct, and that it was impossible to determine how the bomb was planted on Flight 103. To meet plaintiffs' claims of wilful misconduct, Pan Am and Alert emphasized that the transferred bags had been examined using x-ray equipment, but that no bomb was discovered. They challenged plaintiffs' theory of causation and suggested that even if there were any misconduct on their part, it did not lead to the crash.

DISCUSSION

On appeal Pan Am rolls out a panoply of arguments, most involving evidence the district court excluded, and which, therefore, was not heard or considered by the jury. These contentions concern four broad areas: I) the exclusion of evidence related to Pan Am and Alert's alleged noncompliance with ACSSP regulations concerning unaccompanied baggage; II) the admission of evidence showing other alleged misconduct on appellants' part coupled with the disallowance of defense testimony concerning alternate theories of causation; III) various other evidentiary rulings; and IV) the legal bases for the damage awards. In the discussion that follows, we examine each of these four areas in order.

I EXCLUDED EVIDENCE PAN AM AND ALERT ARGUE WOULD HAVE NEGATED ANY WILFUL MISCONDUCT ARISING FROM THEIR NONCOMPLIANCE WITH CERTAIN ACSSP REGULATIONS

Appellants insist the trial court committed reversible error in excluding several pieces of evidence that might have negated a finding of wilful misconduct based on appellants' alleged failure to comply with FAA regulations concerning unaccompanied baggage. This first challenge centers on rulings excluding three lines of evidence that appellants believe were relevant to Pan Am and Alert's state of mind, that is, their wilfulness. The main line of barred evidence purportedly demonstrated an oral waiver by the FAA, excusing Pan Am's compliance with relevant security regulations. The breach of those regulations was central to plaintiffs' case and, as a response, Pan Am and Alert sought to demonstrate that they thought they were complying with the FAA requirements.

The second piece of barred evidence was British regulations that did not require the observance of the same safety standards as did those of the FAA. Appellants sought to negate any inference of wilfulness on their part by showing that x-raying baggage transferred from other airlines--the procedure Pan Am followed--complied with the British regulations. The third piece of evidence not entertained was proof that some experts believe the highest threat to airline safety is not posed by unaccompanied baggage. Each of these three lines of evidence, appellants urge, might have negated plaintiffs'...