Warsaw Convention Pre-Empts Religious Discrimination Claim Against Foreign Airline

In Sewer v. LIAT (1974) Ltd., (D VI, Feb. 16, 2011), a Virgin Islands federal district court held that the Warsaw Convention pre-empts a claim brought by a Virgin Islands citizen against a foreign airline for alleged discriminatory exclusion of plaintiff from a flight originating in the British Virgin Islands.  Plaintiff, a black West Indian Rastafarian who wears dreadlocks alleged that Liat airlines discriminated against him on the basis of race, origin and beliefs. The court concluded that Liat's bumping of Sewer from his flight to Antigua was based on neutral selection criteria. It went on to hold that even if there was discrimination, the only remedy is under the Warsaw Convention, and that document gives no claim to plaintiff because there was no "accident" and no bodily injury alleged. Today's Antigua Observer reports on the decision.