High court rejects appeal in airline smoking lawsuit

The Taiwan High Court yesterday rejected an appeal by a family of five who accused Northwest Airlines (西北航空公司) of harming their health by seating them directly in front of the smoking section on a flight, although it acknowledged the airline was at fault in the incident.

Wu Pei-min (吳培民) and Yen Hsiu-wen (閻琇文) filed civil litigation on behalf of themselves and their three daughters against Northwest following a flight to San Francisco in April 1998. Immediately after the flight they claimed they suffered health problems from inhaling smoke from the designated smoking section behind them.

The couple told the court that, prior to the flight, they had specially requested the airline to seat them in the non-smoking area to protect their daughters -- one of whom was only one year old at the time -- from second-hand smoke.

They said they were placed in the final row of the non-smoking section, which actually adjoined the first row of the smoking area.

The family had demanded a total of over NT$10 million in compensation, which was not only for the airline's failure to provide adequate service, but also for pain and suffering resulting from the incident.

The Taipei District Court ruled last June the company had failed to provide the service as it had agreed to, and thus had to pay NT$61,396 -- half of the ticket costs for the five -- as compensation.

The district court, however, did not grant the request of the family for compensation for pain and suffering.

The Wu family, dissatisfied with what they called the arrogance of the airline in responding to their complaint, filed an appeal to the Taiwan High Court.

The high court rejected the appeal yesterday on the same grounds as the district court ruling.

In specifying its reason, the court pointed to the fact that the NT$10 million compensation request was for a case that occurred in 1998, and such damages were not covered until 1999.

The court noted, however, that an amendment passed last year broadened coverage for compensation for infringement of personal rights.

As a result, future claims in similar cases are expected to be granted as long as the infringement occurred after the new law came into effect.

Wu said he would consider appealing the case to the Supreme Court.