Family Of A Passenger On A Plane That Went Down En Route To Cuba Had Filed The Suit

The family of passenger who was aboard an Aero Caribbean ATR 72 that went down on a flight to Cuba cannot sue the French planemaker in California, a court has ruled.

According to Courthouse News Service, 61 passengers and seven crew were fatally injured in the accident. Among them was  Lorenzo Corazon Mendoza Cervantes, whose family filed the suit.

ATR moved to dismiss the suit, saying the plane had never been operated in California and had never been owned by a resident of California. A U.S. District judge agreed, and granted the motion.

The family appealed to the 9th Circuit, which eventually ruled that a court "may only exercise general personal jurisdiction over a corporation only when its contacts 'render it essentially at home' in the state."

U.S. Circuit Judge William A. Fletcher wrote for the three-judge panel said that "ATR's contacts with California are insufficient to support general jurisdiction" and "Additional jurisdictional discovery would be futile."

FMI: www.ca9.uscourts.gov