Pick v. Lufthansa German Airlines

48 Misc. 2d 442, 265 N.Y.S.2d 63, 1965 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1302
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedDecember 3, 1965
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 48 Misc. 2d 442 (Pick v. Lufthansa German Airlines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pick v. Lufthansa German Airlines, 48 Misc. 2d 442, 265 N.Y.S.2d 63, 1965 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1302 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1965).

Opinion

Millard L. Midonick, J.

The motion by plaintiffs is hereby denied, and judgment on the verdict, as well as on inquest, is directed to be entered against the several defendants, as set forth below.

Plaintiffs at the end of trial moved under CPLB 4404 to set aside a verdict in the plaintiffs’ favor in the sum of $1,653.08. Since the motion is made “asa matter of law ”, it is understood that plaintiffs are requesting judgment be directed in their favor against defendant Lufthansa (herein sometimes called the airline or the carrier) in the sum of $9,605.68, or in the alternative that a new trial be ordered on the separable issue of the limitation of liability of said defendant, on the ground that the verdict limited to $1,653.08 is contrary to the weight of the evidence.

The defendant airline, Lufthansa, would have preferred a verdict exonerating it of any liability, but now seeks to confirm the verdict as rendered rather than to allow plaintiffs’ effort to recover what plaintiffs contend was the true value of the lost merchandise, $9,605.68.

Both parties involved in this motion have joined on common ground that-the figure of the unanimous verdict, $1,653.08, is a correct, in a mathematical sense only, conversion or counter-value into dollars of the United States of America, under the formula (based upon the weight of the lost shipment) of ceiling limitation adopted by the High Contracting Parties adhering to the Warsaw Convention of 12 October, 1929 (49 U. S. Stat. 3000 et seq.; English translation begins at p. 3014) limiting the liability of the carrier in ‘ international transportation of * * * goods performed by aircraft for hire but plaintiffs oppose and the airline supports the proposition that such treaty limitation of liability should apply to the 221 pounds of mink skins which plaintiffs’ testator attempted to ship by air freight from the City of New York to Frankfurt, Germany, via the defendant airline.

The goods were totally and forever lost on the same day of the commencement of shipment, March 1, 1962, by theft described as “ hijacking ” on the ground within the City of New [445]*445York, while en route between the plaintiffs’ testator’s place of business in New York County to Idlewild Airport (now known as John F. Kennedy International Airport), in Queens County.

The plaintiffs’ testator then operated a fur company which for years had been periodically exporting fur skins in the fashion and by the same means employed on this occasion. We shall call him the shipper and the defendant Lufthansa the carrier.

The shipper about midday on March 1, 1962, telephoned his usual freight forwarded whose name, such is the long arm of coincidence, was “ Furman ”, explaining the need for immediate air freight for the said shipment and stating the value of $9,605.68 for this shipment of mink skins.

The forwarder, having in his possession printed air waybills of the carrier, with authority to issue the same (quite similar to the well-known authority of bonded travel agents to issue valid air tickets to passengers), forthwith called the carrier and relayed all of the information, including the value stated, and was advised by the carrier that the shipment would be sent out aboard its aircraft scheduled for departure to Frankfurt about 2:00 a.m. on March 2, 1962, i.e., that very night. The carrier itself noted at that time on its 1pick-up sheets ’ ’ dated March 1, 1962, that the shipper had two packages aggregating 221 pounds, destination Frankfurt, “ $9606.00 insurance ”, and under a column headed “Advised Cartage Agent,” the carrier inscribed the name of a trucking firm “ Heather ” which the carrier chose. The carrier forthwith telephoned said trucker, a defaulting defendant herein, orders to pick up the said shipment at shipper’s Manhattan place of business for delivery to carrier’s establishment and aircraft at Idlewild. The said trucking company was instructed by the carrier to insure for $9,606 the said furs during ground travel from shipper to carrier within New York City but the trucking company failed to do so. A default judgment in that amount of $9,606 against both defendant trucking companies was rendered, on inquest, but the defendant trucking companies appear to have abandoned their business and to have no assets or means to respond to this judgment.

Both the forwarder and the carrier had offices located at Idlewild Airport, and all telephone calls described above were received and made by them at that airport on March 1, 1962. As soon as those telephone calls had concluded, the forwarder drafted the carrier’s air waybill in a set containing many counterparts, sent one by messenger to the carrier in the same airport, and mailed another to the shipper.

[446]*446Instead of inserting on the face of the air waybill the value as stated by the shipper, and as contemporaneously noted by the forwarder and the carrier, the figure $9,606 nowhere appears on the air waybill. Instead, a limitation of value appears clearly on the face of the air waybill in the form of WCL ”, meaning “ Warsaw Convention Limitation ”. Both parties here contending, concede that the meaning of “ WCL ” as it would affect this shipment if legally applicable, is to limit value to $1,653.08, which figure the jury ultimately adopted as its verdict. The forwarder typed ‘ ‘ WCL ’ ’ clearly on the face of the air waybill in two places: in boxes under the printed headings “ Shipper’s declared Value for Customs ” and “ Shipper’s declared Value for Carriage ”. The carrier’s freight charge for air carriage is inserted as $98.35, but no figure was inserted beside the printed excess ‘ ‘ Valuation Charge ’ ’. The undisputed evidence was that, had $9,606 been inserted on the air waybill, an additional $4 for such “ Valuation Charge ” for excess valuation would have been added to the shipper’s expense owing to the carrier.

If the inserted limitation of valuation on the face of the air waybill is effective, no more than a value of $1,653.08 can be recovered by plaintiffs, as the jury found; if such air waybill limitation is not effective, a value of $9,605.68 is claimed by plaintiffs.

It was undisputed that this shipper had done similar business with this forwarder on numerous previous occasions, sometimes reaching 15 times per week during busy seasons, and that the air waybills were always drafted or filled out in this manner, i.e., using “ WCL ” and thereby obtaining the minimum freight rate due to Warsaw Convention Limitation in valuation.

At all material times, the United States of America and the destination country, West Germany, were High Contracting Parties adhering to this treaty known as the Warsaw Convention. At the time of ratification, the nation then known as “ Germany ” was the party.

At the time of trial, it was, and still is, a matter of vigorous disagreement between the parties whether loss of goods on the ground en route to the airport of departure is covered by the provisions of the Warsaw Convention. The shipper negates the applicability of this treaty because the carriage by air had not begun, although urging that the air carrier was liable vicariously for its agent, the ground truckman. The carrier sets up the treaty as a limiting factor because the air waybill had been issued for a carriage that by its terms was within the ambit of the treaty and the goods had begun their international [447]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brooklyn Overall Export Co. v. Amerford International Corp.
83 A.D.2d 598 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 Misc. 2d 442, 265 N.Y.S.2d 63, 1965 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pick-v-lufthansa-german-airlines-nycivct-1965.