U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ordered Olympic Airways to pay $700,000 for its negligence in a passenger's death on a January 1998 flight from Egypt to the United States.

Breyer said flight attendants should have switched Abid M. Hanson's seat after he complained that nearby smoke was bothering him. "Had Olympic Airways' flight crew responded appropriately to the repeated requests to move Dr. Hanson from this area, he might be alive today," said Breyer.

In making the ruling, Breyer cited the Warsaw Convention treaty. The treaty, which must be signed by all international airlines, defines financial liability for accident victims. Breyer reasoned that failure to assign Hanson to another seat "can be considered an 'accident' under the convention."

But airline attorney Stephen Fearon plans to appeal the ruling, arguing that Breyer misapplied the treaty. "We argued that he had preexisting medical asthma and allergy conditions and that his death was not the result of an accident under the Warsaw Convention," Fearon said. "There has to be an accident for there to be an accident. He did not die as a result of any malfunction on the airplane."

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