Aviation
Law Alerts
Aviation
New York
By James Lare, Esq. (215-575-2717 or jglare@mdwcg.com)
Reducing Damages From $300,000 To $300 Under The Montreal Convention.
Vigilant Ins. Co. v. World Courier, Inc. 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44570 (S.D.N.Y. June 4, 2008)
The Montreal Convention applies to all actions for damages to cargo shipped between member states, and, in this case, reduced the exposure of a carrier from $327,240.000 to $298.08 for alleged damage to pharmaceutical products. How? The defendant carrier in Vigilant moved for summary judgment, arguing that the Montreal Convention, which is a treaty that sets forth uniform standards for international shipments of cargo, passengers, and baggage, limits the recovery of damaged shipments to seventeen special drawing rights per kilogram, a figure that drastically reduces overall exposure when the shipment at issue is claimed to be valuable. What if the shipper was negligent or even worse, reckless, in its handling of the cargo? The result is still the same because the Convention has no exception for such conduct as it pertains to cargo. Despite these provisions, the Convention states that its liability limits do not apply if a special declaration was made and the appropriate surcharge paid. The plaintiff in Vigilant claimed that such a declaration was made and surcharge paid because the defendant's rates were higher than those of other shippers. The court, though, dismissed this contention, reasoning that there was simply no evidence to support this conclusory statement. To summarize, the court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment , holding that the maximum amount of damages available to the plaintiff was seventeen special drawing rights per kilogram, or $298.08.
