Torts Commons^™

Recent Cases, Stephen K. Rush, Joseph A. Latham, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Conflicts of Law--Federal Preemption--Aviation Law

Appellant-defendants, the United States' and a national airline whose plane had been involved in a mid-air collision while under radar direction from the FAA, agreed to a settlement of the resulting actions for wrongful death that had been initiated in various federal district courts and consolidated in the Southern District of Indiana. Appellants then sought indemnity and contribution by cross-claim and third-party complaints against appellee-defendants, the owners of the other plane involved in the collision and the estate of its student pilot. The appellees contended that since no right to indemnity and contribution existed under …

Tort Liability In Aircraft Accidents, Henry G. Gatlin Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Over twenty years ago, Justice Cardozo said, "Aviation is today an established method of transportation. The future, even the near future, will make it still more general." Aviation is now a vital part of our daily lives and a familiarity well steeped in American tradition. But even with this apparent adoption of the place of aviation in our economic cycle, it is accompanied by misunderstanding and confusion--witness the placement of serious auto accidents on page six of our newspapers, where headlines scream of aviation's failure if a crash occurs. But as was said in Cohn v. United Air Lines Transport …