Coyle v. P.T. Garuda Indonesia

• Decision Date: 27 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV.99-1348-JE.,CIV.99-1348-JE.
• Citation: 180 F.Supp.2d 1160
• Parties: Joyce E. COYLE, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Fritz G. Baden, Deceased, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Djoeminah Baden, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. P.T. GARUDA INDONESIA, an Indonesia Corporation, dba Garuda Indonesia Airlines, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Oregon

180 F.Supp.2d 1160

Joyce E. COYLE, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Fritz G. Baden, Deceased, and as Personal Representative of the Estate of Djoeminah Baden, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. P.T. GARUDA INDONESIA, an Indonesia Corporation, dba Garuda Indonesia Airlines, Defendant.

No. CIV.99-1348-JE.

United States District Court, D. Oregon.

June 27, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Floyd A. Wisner, Nolan Law Group, Chicago, IL, Susan Ruth Swanson, Portland, OR, for Plaintiff.

Alan D. Reitzfeld, James V. Marks, Holland & Knight, LLP, New York City, Jonathan M. Hoffman, Martin Bischoff, LLP, Portland, OR, for Defendant.

ORDER

ROBERT E. JONES, District Judge.

Magistrate Judge John Jelderks filed Findings and Recommendation on April 30, 2001, in the above entitled case. The matter is now before me pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B) and Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b). When either party objects to any portion of a magistrate judge's Findings and Recommendation, the district court must make a de novo determination of that portion of the magistrate judge's report. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Commodore Business Machines, Inc., 656 F.2d 1309, 1313 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 920, 102 S.Ct. 1277, 71 L.Ed.2d 461 (1982).

Defendant has timely filed objections. I have, therefore, given de novo review of Magistrate Judge Jelderks' rulings.

I find no error. Accordingly, I ADOPT Magistrate Judge Jelderks' Findings and Recommendation dated April 30, 2001, in its entirety. Defendant's motion (# 16) to dismiss, or in the alternative for summary judgment, is DENIED. This matter is to be set for trial in Oregon.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION

JELDERKS, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff Joyce Coyle (Coyle) brings this action as Personal Representative of the Estates of Fritz G. Baden and Djoeminah Baden (the Badens), who died in the 1997 crash of a passenger airliner in Indonesia. Defendant P.T. Garuda Indonesia, dba Garuda Indonesia Airlines (Garuda), is wholly owned by the government of Indonesia.¹ Garuda has moved to dismiss this action — or, in the alternative, for summary judgment — on the ground that (1) this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction under either the Warsaw Convention or the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, (2) this court lacks personal jurisdiction over Garuda, (3) Oregon is not a permissible venue, or (4) the doctrine of forum non conveniens requires that this action be prosecuted in Indonesia rather than in Oregon. For the reasons that follow, I recommend that Defendant's motion be denied in its entirety and the matter be set for trial in Oregon.

BACKGROUND

The Badens were American citizens domiciled in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Their three surviving children also are American citizens, including their daughter, Plaintiff Coyle, who is a resident of Oregon. The Badens decided to visit Indonesia in September 1997. They bought tickets through a Portland travel agent, Astra World Express, Inc. (Astra), which was authorized to make reservations for many airlines, including Garuda.

The Badens' original itinerary was as follows:

                Date Airline Origin and Terminus
                Sept. 6      Alaska/Horizon          Portland to Seattle
                Sept. 7      Eva Airways             Seattle to Taipei
                Sept. 8      Eva or Garuda2          Taipei to Jakarta
                Sept. 30     Garuda                  Jakarta to Singapore
                Sept. 30     Eva Airways             Singapore to Taipei
                Sept. 30     Eva Airways             Taipei to Seattle
                Sept. 30     Alaska/Horizon          Seattle to Portland
                

After arriving in Indonesia, the Badens decided to modify their itinerary by adding an additional stop in Medan, Indonesia. They purchased round-trip tickets, in Jakarta, for a Garuda flight to Medan departing Jakarta on September 26. Although the precise date and time of their return flight to Jakarta was left "open," the Badens needed to be back in Jakarta in time to catch the Garuda flight to Singapore departing at 8:00 a.m. on September 30. However, their plane flew into the side of a mountain while on approach to Medan, killing all 234 on board.

DISCUSSION

A. Applicability of Warsaw Convention

The Warsaw Convention is an international treaty that "creates a nearly irrefutable presumption of liability and provides a judicial forum for the injured traveler, but at a cost to the claimant of severely limiting the damages recoverable against the carrier."³ Kreindler & Rodriguez, 1 AVIATION ACCIDENT LAW § 10.01 (2000). The threshold question is whether that treaty applies here. Usually, it is the airline that invokes the Warsaw Convention to limit its liability. The present case is somewhat atypical, because it is the Plaintiff who seeks to invoke the Warsaw Convention so that her claim may be heard in the courts of the United States instead of in Indonesia.

The Warsaw Convention has been interpreted in a manner that tends to provide an injured traveler (or the survivors) a forum in the traveler's home country. Article 28 of that Convention mandates that an action be filed in one of four permissible venues, among which is "the court at the place of destination." When a traveler purchases a round-trip ticket, the "destination" is usually deemed to be the ultimate destination of the journey, i.e., the point of origin. 1 AVIATION ACCIDENT LAW § 10.06; Gasca v. Empresa De Transporte Aero Del Peru, 992 F.Supp. 1377, 1380 (S.D.Fl.1998) ("courts have consistently held that the destination of a round trip is always the point of origin, which is usually the passenger's home").

Ordinarily, there is but one "destination" for each passenger. Intermediate stops on a lengthy trip are usually construed as "agreed stopping places" that do not alter the eventual destination. See In re Alleged Food Poisoning Incident, 770 F.2d 3, 6-7 (2d Cir.1985) ("destination" for purposes of Warsaw Convention was Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when traveler bought ticket to travel from Riyadh to Dharhan to London to Washington to New York City and back to Riyadh); Gasca, 992 F.Supp. at 1380.

The final destination of the passenger, not of the plane, is what matters. See Sopcak v. Northern Mountain Helicopter Service, 52 F.3d 817, 818-19 (9th Cir.1995) (passenger's ultimate destination was Vancouver, British Columbia, notwithstanding that leg of flight that crashed was going no farther than Wrangell, Alaska); Compania Mexicana De Aviacion, S.A. v. United States District Court, 859 F.2d 1354 (9th Cir.1988) ("destination" of these particular passengers was Mexico, notwithstanding that plane which crashed on takeoff had been scheduled to continue on to Los Angeles after making stops within Mexico).

It is of little significance that legs of the trip are booked on more than one carrier. Under Article 1 of the Convention, transportation to be performed by several successive air carriers remains "one undivided transportation" so long as "it has been regarded by the parties as a single operation." See Alleged Food Poisoning, 770 F.2d at 6 (trip on multiple airlines); Vergara v. Aeroflot, 390 F.Supp. 1266 (D.Neb.1975) (legs of round-the-world trip booked on at least eight different airlines constituted "one undivided transportation").

A trip may be subject to the Warsaw Convention notwithstanding that it includes long lay-overs, is spread over the course of weeks or even months, or the precise dates and carriers for some legs have not been finalized. See Vergara, 390 F.Supp. 1266 (round-the-world trip beginning in June and ending in late July or August, with long lay-overs in many cities, and the dates and carriers for the final six legs were left "open"); Swaminathan v. Swiss Air Transport Co., Ltd., 962 F.2d 387, 389 (5th Cir.1992) (Senegal was final destination of passenger who purchased round-trip ticket from Senegal to New York, notwithstanding date of return to Senegal had been left open).

In Haldimann v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 168 F.3d 1324 (D.C.Cir.1999), the passenger was scheduled to fly from Geneva, Switzerland to Washington, DC on June 19. A week later, she was to fly — on a different airline — from Washington to Pensacola, Florida, to visit her parents, then on to Gainesville, Florida, to attend a seminar, and then back to Washington in time to catch a return flight to Geneva on July 15. She was injured during the Pensacola to Gainesville leg. The DC Circuit held that the entire trip, including the domestic legs, was a single trip for purposes of the Warsaw Convention, hence her "destination" was Geneva rather than Gainesville or Washington. The Pensacola to Gainesville leg was "international transportation" even though it was a purely domestic flight within the borders of a single state. Id.

In light of the preceding authorities, it is clear that the Badens' trip to Indonesia was "international transportation" subject to the Warsaw Convention, with Portland, Oregon, being the Badens' ultimate "destination." It also is clear that if the fatal flight from Jakarta to Medan had been part of the Badens' original itinerary, Medan would be an "agreed stopping point" and the Warsaw Convention would apply.

The critical question is whether the outcome should be different because the Badens purchased the Jakarta to Medan tickets after arriving in Indonesia, instead of including that leg of their journey in the original itinerary. Under the circumstances of this case, I do not believe that fact is sufficient to warrant a different result and deprive the Badens of the protections afforded to international travelers by the Warsaw Convention.

In Gasca, the decedent embarked on a business trip which contemplated his flying from Miami to Sao Paulo, Brazil; then to Uberaba, Brazil; back to Sao Paulo; then to Buenos Aires, Argentina; then to Santiago, Chile; and finally back to Miami. Id., 992 F.Supp. at 1379. During the trip, he added two side trips to his schedule, including a day trip from Santiago, Chile to Lima, Peru, on Aero Peru. The...