A) MUST PLEAD PUNITIVE DAMAGES IF BEING SOUGHT. B)MAINTENANCE RATE OF $8 UNDER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT UPHELD.
Santiago Paris, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Waterman SteamshipCorporation, Defendant-Respondent.
Case Number 3406
SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRSTDEPARTMENT
2001 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1951
March 1, 2001, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff seaman sued defendant ship owner for personal injuries. Plaintiff moved to amend the complaint so as to allege failure to treat and to seek consequential and punitive damages therefor. The Supreme Court, New York County (New York) denied plaintiff's motion. Plaintiff appealed the decision.
OVERVIEW: The court held plaintiff's motion to amend the complaint was properly denied on the basis of law of the case established by a prior order of the court reversing a judgment in plaintiff's favor, and dismissing plaintiff's claims for consequential and punitive damages and maintenance and cure predicated on mental illness, and remanding for a new trial solely on plaintiff's claim for maintenance and cure predicated upon findings that he was unfit for duty. The prior order specifically rejected plaintiff's claims for consequential and punitive damages not only as unpleaded but also on the merits, and there was nothing new about plaintiff's claim of failure to treat, which closely tracked claims that had already been dismissed. The court also held plaintiff's claim that the $8 a day rate for maintenance and cure set forth in his union's collective bargaining agreement was unconscionably inadequate and should not be enforced was improperly raised for the first time on appeal, and the court declined to review the claim.
OUTCOME:The court affirmed the decision, because a prior order of the court specifically rejected plaintiff's claims for consequential and punitive damages not only as unpleaded but also on the merits, and there was nothing new about plaintiff's claim of failure to treat, and the claim was therefore barred by law of the case.
