Penalty Wages Denied Where Failure To Pay Was Due To An Accounting Error
JAMES WHITE, Plaintiff, v. WATERMAN STEAMSHIP CORP.,Defendant.
CIVIL ACTION NO. G-03-1026
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OFTEXAS, GALVESTON DIVISION
2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7246
January 7, 2005, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Following an injury while working aboard a vessel, plaintiff seaman sued defendant, the vessel's owner, alleging causes of action under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. § 588, unseaworthiness, maintenance and cure, and penalty wages under 46 U.S.C.S. § 10313. Defendant filed a motion for partial summary judgment only as to the claim for penalty wages.
OVERVIEW: There was no evidence that defendant intentionally withheld plaintiff's wages for his work on the first day he was on the vessel or arbitrarily or willfully refused to pay him those wages. A simple accounting error in the calculation of a seaman's wages did not qualify as arbitrary or willful so as to invoke the draconian penalties under 46 U.S.C.S. § 10313. Moreover, plaintiff was not entitled to penalty wages for any lost past and future wages, unpaid maintenance and cure benefits, and lost union benefit plan contributions. Lost union benefit plan contributions and unpaid maintenance and cure benefits were outside the scope of the wage penalty statute. Lost union benefit contributions were paid to the seaman's union and not directly to the seaman. Lost wages were those that a seaman could have earned but did not because of his incapacity, thus, they did not accrue until after he was discharged.
OUTCOME: The court granted defendant's motion for partial summary judgment for penalty wages.
