Lee v. American Airlines Inc.

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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