Federal judge tosses case over plane crash death caused by Iranian missile launch

SAN DIEGO (CN) — A federal judge granted Ukraine International Airlines’ motion to dismiss a lawsuit relating to the death of a 23-year-old student killed in a 2020 plane crash caused by Iranian missiles launched shortly after take-off.

Sara Saadat was among the 176 people killed on Jan. 8, 2020, when Ukraine International Airlines’ Flight PS752 from Tehran to Kyiv was downed by missiles launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps three minutes after taking off.

Senior U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff dismissed the Saadat family’s complaint, finding Sara Saadat was traveling to Edmonton, Canada, as her final destination, and under international aviation law, a passenger’s intended final destination is the appropriate venue to have jurisdiction over lawsuits involving injuries to international passengers.

The airline argued the lawsuit should be dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction and insufficient service of process. It asserted that Canada, where suits related to the accident are already pending, is an “available and adequate forum” to hear the complaint.

“The Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court have made clear that ‘a foreign forum will be deemed adequate unless it offers no practical remedy for the plaintiff’s complained of wrong,’’ Huff wrote in her ruling.

Huff wrote that plaintiffs did not argue that Canada is an inadequate forum.

The judge also weighed the balance of private and public interest factors. Normally there is a strong presumption in favor of a plaintiff’s choice of forum, which can be overcome only if private and public interest factors clearly point towards trial in an alternate forum.

Sara Saadat was a Canadian citizen, and “the strong presumption in favor of a plaintiff’s choice of forum is lessened for foreign plaintiffs,” Huff wrote. It would also be easier to litigate the case in Canadian court, the judge added.

There are already similar lawsuits related Saadat’s death in the crash, and a trial is set for one in November 2023. Thus, the U.S. would be litigating claims that were already decided in a foreign court, Huff wrote.

“The courts in Canada will almost certainly reach a verdict on the claims pending in Canada before any court in the United States would be able to litigate the merits of this action,” Huff wrote.

Huff noted Sadaat had booked a roundtrip ticket between Edmonton, Canada, and Tehran, Iran, with stops in Toronto, Canada, and Kiev, Ukraine.

“The fact that the decedent was attending school in San Diego, California, is insufficient to confer specific personal jurisdiction upon the defendant for this claim,” Huff wrote. “Defendant does not operate flights to and from California, maintain offices in California, or have employees in California.

Saadat’s family claimed that the airline acted negligently when it dispatched the flight. The missile strike happened when tensions were high in Iran after the U.S. ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. The Federal Aviation Administration had ordered U.S. carriers not to fly over Iran in the aftermath.

Saadat’s family claims that airline should have known about the risk and updated its risk assessments.