Cite as: 525 U. S. 155 (1999)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Everyone agrees that the literal text of the treaty does not preempt claims of personal injury that do not arise out of an accident. It is equally clear that nothing in the drafting history requires that result. On the contrary, the amendment to the title of the Convention made in response to the proposal advanced by the Czechoslovak delegation, see ante, at 173, suggests that the parties assumed that local law would apply to all nonaccident cases. I agree with the Court that that inference is not strong enough, in itself, to require that the ambiguity be resolved in the plaintiff's favor. It suffices for me, however, that the history is just as ambiguous as the text. I firmly believe that a treaty, like an Act of Congress, should not be construed to preempt state law unless its intent to do so is clear. See Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U. S. 470, 485 (1996); Department of Revenue of Ore. v. ACF Industries, Inc., 510 U. S. 332, 351 (1994); CSX Transp., Inc. v. Easterwood, 507 U. S. 658, 664 (1993); Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U. S. 218, 230 (1947). For this reason, I respectfully dissent.
psychological) arising from accidents are covered by Article 17 and therefore preempted by Article 24(2), the "merely traumatized" plaintiff would not be free to sue outside the Convention.
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