Cruise Ship Law

CAPTAIN HARTMUT RATHJE, et al., Plaintiffs v. SCOTIA PRINCECRUISES, LTD., Defendant

Civil No. 01-123-P-DMC
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE
2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21266
December 20, 2001, Decided

PRIOR HISTORY: None.

DISPOSITION: [*1] Defendant's motion granted as to plaintiffs' claim pursuant to 26 M.R.S.A. § 626, and otherwise denied.

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiffs, former foreign employees, worked on a ship for defendant, foreign employer. Plaintiffs brought two claims against their former employer: breach of employment contract (specifically, wrongful termination) and violation of a Maine wage statute, Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 26, § 626. Defendant moved for summary judgment.

OVERVIEW: The employer sought summary judgment as to the first claim on the basis that the employees were not terminated, but rather resigned. The employer specifically argued that the employees' ultimatum constituted a resignation and that its refusal to accede to that ultimatum did not convert their resignations into discharges. In the employer's view, it possessed a unilateral right to waive the notice period, which it did. Thus, the employees had no right to receive compensation for their respective notice periods. The employees countered that, rather than resigning, they were effectively terminated. The court held that employees adduced sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether they resigned. With respect to the Maine wage statute, the employees asked the court to employ an eight-factor choice-of-law test designed to ferret out the state with the most significant contacts to a given claim. The employer argued that the most-significant-contacts test was inapplicable to a wage claim. In the employer's view, the "law of the flag" doctrine governed, and the presumption against extraterritorial application of state statutes applied. The court agreed.

OUTCOME: The employer's motion for summary judgment was granted as to the plaintiffs' state law claim for wages, but was otherwise denied.