Extraterritoriality

• Pages: 54-

Page 54

Defendant Raytheon was the manufacturer of a plane that crashed in Bosnia in 2004, killing the Macedonian president, his accompanying advisors, and two pilots. The State of Macedonia had bought the plane in 1980, and had retained ownership ever since. Following the crash, Plaintiffs brought a wrongful death suit in the California federal court; it alleged three causes of action under Macedonian law based on the defectiveness of the aircraft. The district court granted summary judgment for Defendant after fi nding that the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 (GARA) 49 U.S.C. Section 40101 barred the claim. The Plaintiff s appealed, claiming that the presumption against extraterritoriality precludes GARA's application to a Macedonian air crash.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirms the summary judgment, holding that the presumption does not apply in this case. A statute that does not regulate conduct occurring abroad does not implicate the presumption against extraterritoriality.

GARA is a statute of repose that limits aircraft manufacturers' liability to eighteen years after it delivers one its aircraft. It provides that "no civil action for damages for death or injury to persons or damage to property arising out of an accident involving a general aviation aircraft may be brought against the manufacturer" after the expiration of the eighteen-year period. GARA Section 2(a). The accident in question took place twenty-four years after the delivery of the aircraft. Plaintiff s nevertheless maintain that the presumption bars the application of GARA's time bar in this case.

Under the presumption against extraterritoriality, courts are to assume that an act of Congress only regulates conduct within U.S. territory unless it can be shown by clear statement that Congress intended otherwise. The Court disagrees that the presumption applies in the suit. It holds that "[Plaintiffs] have failed to show that an application of GARA would impermissibly regulate conduct that has occurred abroad. GARA only regulates the ability of a party to seek compensation...