United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
January 14, 2004
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FIFTH CIRCUIT
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
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No. 03-10178
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DARREN M LEE, on behalf of himself and those similarly situated,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
AMERICAN AIRLINES INC,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
For the Northern District of Texas
Before JONES, EMILIO M. GARZA, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.
EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:
Following the delay and ultimate cancellation of Darren Lee’s flight from New York to
London, Lee filed a federal class action complaint against American Airlines, asserting a claim under
Article 19 of the Warsaw Convention.1 Lee sought to recover damages for delay, inconvenience,
1
Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Transportation by
Air, Oct. 29, 1929, 49 Stat. 3000, T.S. No. 876 (1934), reprinted in 49 U.S.C. § 40105 (note) (2000)
(hereinafter “Warsaw Convention”).
assorted expenses, loss of reasonably foreseeable business, loss of prepaid and/or nonrefundable
vacation expenses, and loss of a “refreshing, memorable vacation.” The district court granted
American Airlines partial judgment on the pleadings, pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. 12(c), as to damages
for inconvenience and loss of a refreshing, memo rable vacation, reasoning that these allegations
amounted to damages for mental injuries, unrecoverable under the Warsaw Convention. The district
court subsequently certified this issue for appeal.
On appeal, Lee contends that his damages claims for inconvenience and loss of a refreshing,
memorable vacation are economic damages and not claims for mental anguish damages. Specifically,
Lee alleges American Airlines inconvenienced him by forcing him to spend time in a terminal without
adequate food, water, restroom facilities and information regarding the status of his flight, by forcing
him to spend the night in a dirty, substandard and unsafe motel room, and caused him to lose a full
day of a memorable refreshing vacation.
We agree with the district court that, as alleged, Lee’s so-called inconvenience damages are
not easily quantifiable and do not result in real economic loss. These alleged damages are merely an
attempted re-characterization of mental anguish damages. Mental injury damages are not recoverable
under the Warsaw Convention. See Eastern Airlines v. Floyd, 499 U.S. 530 (1991) (fi nding that
Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention does not allow recovery for purely mental injuries because the
drafters of the Warsaw Convention did not intend to include such a remedy in the Convention).
Accordingly, we AFFIRM the ruling of the district court.
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