Cruise Ship Law

JEFFREY WAYNE WITHHART, Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellee, versus OTTO CANDIES, L.L.C., ET AL., Defendants, SEA MAR, INC., SEA MAR MANAGEMENT L.L.C., NABOR MARINE, L.L.C., Defendant-Counter Claimants-Appellants

No. 04-31267
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 26270
December 2, 2005, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant shipowner-employer (owner) sought review of a decision of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, which dismissed the owner's counterclaims for negligence and indemnity brought against appellee seaman-employee (seaman) pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). The seaman had filed the original action under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 688 and general maritime law to recover for his injuries.

OVERVIEW: The matter arose from an accident at sea, and the owner paid a second shipowner for damages to its vessel. The owner sought to recover from the seaman that amount plus an amount for property damage to the owner's vessel allegedly caused by the seaman's negligence. In a case of first impression, the court reversed in an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C.S. § 1292(b), holding that the owner's counterclaims were consistent with general maritime law and should not have been dismissed. The Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.S. § 51, and consequently the Jones Act, contained no prohibition against a general maritime negligence and indemnity counterclaim by the owner against its seaman-employee for property damage. Allowing the owner to bring a claim against its seaman for property damage arising out of the seaman's negligence did not narrow the remedies available to the seaman under the Jones Act. The fact that seamen worked under difficult conditions was not a reason to shield them from liability from negligence and indemnity actions.

OUTCOME: The court reversed the district court's judgment of dismissal and remanded the cause for further proceedings.