ALITALIA vs.

IAC
192 SCRA 9

Facts:
Dr. Felipa Pablo was invited to be a speaker at a meeting in Ispra, Italy. In order to
attend, she booked tickets on Alitalia Airlines. She had two baggages one containing her
personal belongings and another containing her scientific papers for the meeting. She
arrived in Milan one day before the meeting but her baggages didnt arrive with her. She
was told that the baggages were on a subsequent flight arriving from Rome. She then felt
desperate so she went to Rome to find the bags herself but to no avail. She was distraught
and discouraged so she went home to Manila without attending the meeting.
In Manila, she demanded that Alitalia pay her reparation for the damages she
suffered. Alitalia offered her free airline tickets but she refused and filed an action in court
instead. The trial court ruled in her favor and awarded her nominal damages. The appellate
court affirmed the decision and increased the award of damages.
Alitalia appealed on Certiorari contending that the Warsaw Convention should have
limited its liabilities and that there is no warrant in fact and law that would entitle Dr.
Pablo the award of nominal damages and attorneys fees.

Issues:

a) Whether the Warsaw Convention should be applied to limit Alitalias liability

b) Whether Dr. Pablo is entitled to be paid nominal damages

Ruling:
The decision of the appellate court was affirmed.
The Warsaw Convention does not operate as an absolute limit of the extent of an
airlines liability. It does not regulate or exclude liability for other breaches of contract by
the carrier, or misconduct of employees, or for some or particular exceptional type of
damage. The Convention cannot be pleaded as the sole gauge to determine a carriers
liability. It shall be applied, or ignored, depending on the peculiar facts presented by each
case. Therefore, Alitalia cannot successfully invoke the Warsaw Convention in this case.

Dr. Pablo is entitled to an award of nominal damages for the injury she suffered as a
result of Alitalias failure to deliver her luggage on time. There was no bad faith nor
improper conduct on the part of Alitalia and that the luggage was eventually returned but
some species of injury was caused to Dr. Pablo because the luggage was misplaced and
failed to be deliver on time. The failure to deliver the luggage on time is a breach of the
contract of carriage and as a result, the opportunity of Dr. Pablo to be a speaker was lost.
Therefore, the decision of the appellate court was affirmed.