## Facts

- Randall S. Cox, a 29-year-old U.S. Army captain, was a passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 293, a Douglas DC‑7C, traveling from McChord Air Force Base (Washington) to Elmendorf (Alaska).
- After routine preflight procedures and weather briefing, the aircraft departed at about 8:32 a.m. on June 3, 1963.
- At 11:07 a.m., the crew reported passing “Domestic Annette” at 14,000 feet and requested clearance to climb to 18,000 feet; this was the last known transmission.
- Around 11:12 a.m., the aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 116 miles west-southwest of Annette Island, off Canada’s west coast.
- Searchers later found floating debris and recovered about 1,500 pounds of wreckage; no bodies were recovered.
- In a bench trial under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), the district court could not identify a specific mechanical failure or operational error but found Northwest liable based on circumstantial evidence and awarded $329,956.59 to Cox’s estate.

## Issues

1. Whether negligence could be inferred from the unexplained crash of a commercial aircraft under the carrier’s control, despite no proof of a specific negligent act or omission.
2. Whether the DOHSA damages award was erroneous for failing to deduct projected federal income taxes from future earnings.
3. Whether damages for loss of inheritance were improper or required additional present-value reduction.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the judgment for the estate.
- The court held the trier of fact could infer negligence from the unexplained crash of a commercial aircraft under the airline’s exclusive control where the passenger had no control and there was no evidence of passenger fault.
- The court rejected Northwest’s argument that evidence of maintenance, inspection, and qualified personnel defeated the inference as a matter of law.
- The court upheld the damages calculation, including the decision not to deduct income taxes from projected earnings and the inclusion of loss-of-inheritance damages as calculated.

## Legal Principles

- In a DOHSA action, negligence may be proved by circumstantial evidence; a res ipsa loquitur–type inference may support liability when a commercial aircraft crashes under circumstances that ordinarily do not occur absent negligence and the carrier had control of the aircraft.
- Evidence that a carrier generally exercised due care in maintenance and staffing does not automatically negate a permissible inference of negligence from an unexplained crash; it is for the factfinder to weigh.
- DOHSA pecuniary-loss awards are not required, as a matter of law, to deduct projected federal income taxes from future earnings in computing damages.
- Loss-of-inheritance may be included within DOHSA pecuniary damages when supported by evidence and reasonably accounted for within the trial court’s overall discounting and valuation of future losses.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit affirmed DOHSA liability and damages where a passenger died in an unexplained ocean crash, holding that the district court could infer carrier negligence from the occurrence itself and that the challenged components of the pecuniary-damages calculation did not require modification.


Cox v. Nw. Airlines, Inc., 379 F.2d 893 (7th Cir. 1967)