In a consolidated interlocutory appeal of two cases arising out of the same commercial jet aircraft crash, the Seventh Circuit considered two issues: whether plaintiffs’ source of recovery was limited solely to the Death on the High Seas Act and whether the plaintiffs were entitled to a jury trial. The district court concluded that the DOHSA was the plaintiffs’ sole source of recovery and that they were not entitled to a jury trial. The Seventh Circuit agreed and affirmed, explaining that the plaintiffs’ non-DOHSA claims, which were grounded in state law, were preempted and that long-standing precedent established that cases in federal court involving solely claims brought under DOHSA must proceed in admiralty without a jury trial. (BRENNAN and JACKSON-AKIWUMI, concurring)
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Admiralty Law