## Facts

- Swissair Flight 111, an international flight from New York (JFK) to Geneva, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, killing all 229 persons on board.
- Multiple wrongful-death actions were filed in federal courts and consolidated for pretrial proceedings in an MDL in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
- Plaintiffs (representatives and survivors of decedent passengers) alleged product- and conduct-based causes of the crash, including an in-flight fire allegedly linked to a malfunction in the in-flight entertainment system.
- The parties stipulated that the crash site was within 12 nautical miles of the Canadian coast, but outside the 3-mile distance associated with a “marine league” referenced in DOHSA’s historical context.
- Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, joined by other defendants, moved to dismiss all punitive-damages claims on the ground that the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) governed and did not permit punitive damages.

## Issues

1. Whether DOHSA applied where the crash occurred within 12 nautical miles of Canada but beyond the three-mile distance associated with a marine league.
2. If DOHSA applied, whether its damages limitation to pecuniary loss barred punitive damages.
3. Whether DOHSA, if applicable, provided the exclusive remedy such that other theories could not supply punitive damages.

## Decision

- The court held that DOHSA applied to the deaths arising from the crash location notwithstanding Canada’s contemporary 12-mile territorial sea claim.
- The court held that DOHSA limits recovery to “fair and just compensation” for beneficiaries’ pecuniary losses and does not allow punitive damages.
- The court held that when DOHSA applies, it is the exclusive wrongful-death remedy and displaces other sources of law that would expand available damages.
- The court granted defendants’ motion and entered judgment for defendants as to all punitive-damages claims.

## Legal Principles

- DOHSA applies to wrongful deaths occurring “on the high seas” beyond a marine league from shore for purposes of the statute’s uniform maritime wrongful-death remedy.
- DOHSA’s remedial scheme authorizes only pecuniary-loss damages to statutory beneficiaries; non-pecuniary and punitive damages are unavailable absent clear congressional authorization.
- When DOHSA governs a death, it preempts state wrongful-death statutes and general maritime law to the extent they would enlarge the categories of recoverable damages.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that DOHSA governed the wrongful-death claims arising from the Swissair Flight 111 crash near Canada and, because DOHSA provides an exclusive pecuniary-only remedy, all punitive-damages claims were barred and dismissed.


In re Air Crash Disaster Near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia on Sept. 2, 1998, 210 F. Supp. 2d 570 (E.D. Pa. 2002)