The case arose from the death on January 4, 1998 of Dr. Abid Hanson,[1] a passenger on Olympic Airways Flight 417 from Cairo, Egypt, via Athens, Greece, to New York City in the United States.

[4] Abid Hanson and his wife, Rubina Husain, were sitting in non-smoking seats on Olympic Airways Flight 417, but were very near the smoking section.

Rubina Husain filed suit in a California federal district court seeking damages under Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention.

Applying the statute from the Warsaw convention, the district court ruled that Mr. Hanson's death was an "accident" and awards Rubina Husain $1.4 million.

[5] On initial appeal, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the finding of the District Court that Leptourgou's actions not only met the definition of “accident” under Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention, but also rose to the level of being “wilful misconduct” under Article 25; by passing that threshold, it removed a $75,000 cap on damages.