Cruise Ship Law

LANNY M. HUSEMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ICICLE SEAFOODS, INC., a Washington corporation; F/V DISCOVERY STAR, Official No. 500072, her engines, tackle, furniture, apparel and equipment, In Rem, Defendants-Appellees.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 31816
December 27, 2006, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff seaman sued defendants, a company and a vessel, alleging a claim under the Jones Act, former 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 688 (recodified at 46 U.S.C.S. § 30104), an unseaworthiness claim, and a claim for maintenance and cure. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington granted summary judgment in favor of defendants. The seaman appealed.

OVERVIEW: The seaman injured his shoulder while he was working as a seafood processor for the company aboard the vessel. The company filed a workers' compensation report with regard to the injury. Nearly three years later the seaman filed the current action. The district court found that the Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims were time barred and the maintenance and cure claim was barred by laches. The appellate court found that equitable tolling was not warranted because the seaman did not exercise due diligence in pursuing his federal claims. The seaman could not take advantage of equitable estoppel because he could not, and in fact did not, reasonably rely on a disputed paragraph in his terms of employment or on the company's conduct when he delayed in filing his complaint. The court declined to apply the "wards of the court" doctrine. The district court made no specific findings of prejudice with regard to the claim of laches and instead improperly articulated a rationale for why the delay was unreasonable.

OUTCOME: The judgment was affirmed with respect to the Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims, but was reversed and remanded with regard to the maintenance and cure claim.