航空产品责任诉讼初探——以美国立法与司法实践为视角

Study on Aviation Product Liability Litigation:a Perspective of Legislative and Judicial Practice in the United States

发生空难后,航空产品责任诉讼是受伤害旅客获得高额赔偿的重要途径,美国是航空产品责任诉讼的集中地,有着丰富的司法实践经验和较为完备的法律规定。航空产品责任诉讼的责任主体主要是航空产品制造商和航空器出租人,要使其承担产品责任,必须证明航空器存在设计、制造或警示说明缺陷。同时,美国法院常常会在航空产品责任诉讼中应用不方便法院原则,从私人利益和公共利益因素两方面进行考察,判断法院是否对案件行使管辖权。尽管由于法官自由裁量权的行使可能导致不同案件判决结果存在差异,但是通过对美国《第三次侵权法重述:产品责任》和相关案例的研究,在美国航空产品责任诉讼中原告的举证责任、不方便法院原则的适用标准等问题上仍有一些规律可循。

After air crash accidents, aviation products liability litigation is an important way to claim high compensation for victims. The United States is the concentration of product liability lawsuits, with ample practice and more complete requirements. Aviation products manufacturers and lessors are the ones to be brought actions to take responsibility in most eases. To make them undertake products liability, plaintiff must prove aircraft or its components contain a manufacturing defect,or is defective in design, or is defective because of inadequate instructions or warnings. Meanwhile, the United States courts usually apply doctrine of forum non conveniens in aviation products liability cases to determine whether they should dismiss the case by examining and balancing private interests factors and public interests factors. Although judges＇ exercise of discretion may result in big differences in verdicts, some conclusions on the burden of proof responsibility and criteria of forum non conveniens can still be found by studying the Restatement of the law Third, Torts： Product Liability and relevant cases.