Cruise Ship Law

A small cruise ship ran aground off Greenland's west coast and more than 50 people were evacuated safely Wednesday, the tour operator said.

The Disko II hit rocks near the island of Qeqertarsuaq, but was not believed to be seriously damaged, said Soeren Rasmussen of the Danish tour operator Albatros Travel.

The 52 passengers — all Danes — and two tour guides were taken ashore as a precaution on the ship's lifeboats and small vessels sent from a village on the island, Rasmussen said. The 18-member crew remained aboard.

"Hitting rocks is always something that has to be taken very seriously but people took it very calmly, there was no danger," Rasmussen said.

"No damage to the ship or its double hull has been found," he said, adding that the Disko II had been built to sail in Arctic waters.

The passengers would remain in Qeqertarsuaq, about 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle, while authorities investigated whether the ship could continue its cruise north to Uummannaq, about 310 miles farther north.

The cruise had started in Kangerlussuaq, the site of a former U.S. Air Force base in southwestern Greenland.

The Disko II was built in 1992 to sail passengers along Greenland's west coast during the ice-free months and was converted into a cruise ship in 2004.

The worst accident off Greenland in recent decades happened in 1959, when all 95 passengers and crew members on the Danish liner Hans Hedtoft were killed when the ship sank on its maiden voyage to Denmark in a storm off the southern tip of Greenland.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 11:34 AM | Permalink

By IANS

Shanghai - At least 23 tourists, including 11 foreigners, were injured after their ship collided with a cargo ship here, hospital sources said.

The accident occurred around 6.40 p.m. Saturday at a section of the Huangpu River near downtown Shanghai, when the Shikumen passenger ship with 216 tourists aboard crashed with a cargo vessel sailing in the opposite direction.

Twenty-three injured tourists, including eight from Japan and three from Spain, were rushed to a hospital here.

The passenger ship managed to anchor at a nearby pier while police seized the cargo vessel police.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 4:27 PM | Permalink

A mourning family returned to the Hub last night after a Bermuda cruise turned tragic with the death of a beloved 22-year-old from Malden.

Richard Mulloy III fell more than 40 feet off the ship’s upper deck early Wednesday morning.

“I don’t know how to say this,” said his grandfather, Richard Mulloy of Belmont. “He was very humane. He loved his mother and father and was a good kid.”

The cruise was a family reunion trip that had been planned for years.

“The whole family organized it, figured it out and saved the time to put it aside,” said Richard Mulloy Jr., father of the young man who had returned from a night out on St. George’s Island when he fell from the fifth deck to the first deck of the Norwegian Majesty cruise ship.

“They were waiting for an elevator trying to get to a disco on the ship. He fell over the banister between the sets of stairs and fell on the (lower) deck,” Richard Mulloy Jr. said.

Two onboard nurses tried to save Mulloy III after he fell around 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, but he died from his injuries within hours at a local hospital, according to a Bermuda police report.

Bermuda police said yesterday the incident is under investigation.

A law enforcement source told the Herald that police have no reason to believe the fall was anything other than an accident.

The younger Mulloy was a graduate of Malden Catholic High School.He was an independent insurance worker and was on the waiting list to become a Malden firefighter.

“He was the middle child in that family. He’s my only grandson. . . . He was named after me - Richard Sullivan Mulloy. He’s the third, but that’s the end of the line now,” the elder Mulloy said somberly.

Richard Mulloy Jr. returned to Boston last night with his wife and two daughters. His son’s body was flown home separately.

“He was a great kid,” said Mulloy Jr. “He could always make everybody laugh. I was proud of him, and everything is sinking in. I’m just in shock.”

Boston Herald
By Colneth Smiley Jr.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 4:04 PM | Permalink

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has cited inadequate supervision and improper manning levels on a cruise liner following a fatal accident.

A 39-year-old Filipino crew member on the Thomson Celebration received fatal injuries last September while trying to manoeuvre a lifeboat tender.

The liner was preparing to leave St Peter Port when the accident happened.

Columbia Shipmanagement has undertaken a full safety review and a safety officer is now on duty at all times.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report was also critical of the boat's safety management system.

It said there was inadequate shipboard supervision of the tender operation, manning levels were not in accordance with specified levels and the in-house training scheme was inconsistently applied.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:50 PM | Permalink

A Greyhound bus slammed into a group of passengers fresh from a Caribbean cruise as they waited to board a bus at Port Everglades Sunday morning, sheriff's officials said.

Six people were transported to Broward General Medical Center with injuries that were not life threatening.

The accident occurred at around 10:40 a.m. at the port's 19th berth at 2019 Eller Drive.

Lindsay McGrath, 23, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, had just spent eight days traveling with Carnival Cruise Lines to San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortula and the Bahamas with her parents, siblings, cousins, aunt and uncle. The group of ten, tanned and rested from their vacation, disembarked from the cruiseliner Sunday morning. They were waiting by their luggage to board a bus to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when the Greyhound lurched toward them, hitting a concrete post first.

"It was two seconds. If it weren't for that [post], I'd be dead," said McGrath as she sat in a wheel chair, right leg raised, at the emergency room of Broward General Medical Center. She was waiting to be treated and said she had no feeling in her right leg.

South Florida Sun-Sentinal

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 2:14 PM | Permalink

Scott Alprin, Appellant, v. City of Tacoma et al., Respondent.
COURT OF APPEALS OF WASHINGTON, DIVISION TWO
2007 Wash. App. LEXIS 1417
June 5, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant, claimant, sued respondent, City of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Utilities (the City), alleging negligence as a matter of law for failing to warn of an overhead power line hazard. The City moved for summary judgment. The Washington trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the City, and the claimant appealed.

OVERVIEW: While sailing, the claimant's sailboat mast hit power transmission cables suspended above the bay. The resulting jolt of electricity severely injured the claimant, threw him into the water, and caused major damage to his sailboat. The appellate court ruled that by including the power lines in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) charts, the City fulfilled its duty to warn as a matter of law. The NOAA chart for the bay clearly noted the location of the power lines and their clearance of 30 feet above the confluence of the bay and lagoon. The appellate court was bound by the admiralty rule that any boater, even a recreational one, was charged with knowledge of all warnings and hazards contained in the NOAA charts. The claimant did not bother to consult or to take notice of the NOAA chart, which clearly showed the location and clearance of the power lines, and he did not heed the red danger buoys, claiming instead to have mistakenly believed that they marked a no-wake zone, also contrary to the NOAA charts.

OUTCOME: The judgment was affirmed.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:57 PM | Permalink

IN RE: MILLENIUM SEACARRIERS INC., Debtor. CREW OF THE DEBTORS' VESSELS, MARITIME TRANSPORT WORKERS' UNION OF RUSSIA, et al. Plaintiffs-Appellants-Cross-Appellees, -against- ALLFIRST BANK, f/k/a/ FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF MARYLAND, WAYLAND INVESTMENT FUNDS, LLC, et al. Defendants-Appellees-Cross-Appellants.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 13072
June 5, 2007, Decided

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiffs, a group of seamen on foreign-flag vessels and their union (wage claimants), appealed from the affirmance by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York of the bankruptcy court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant lenders. The lenders cross-appealed from the district court's decision to allow the wage claimants to supplement the bankruptcy court record with newly-created evidence of their wage demands.

OVERVIEW: The wage claimants did not seek ordinary wages. Their claim was for double wages under 46 U.S.C.S. � 10313(g). The record was devoid of evidence that even a single wage claimant met the statutory requirements for double wages. Each of the affidavits submitted by the wage claimants in the district court omitted an essential element of 46 U.S.C.S. � 10313(f). The affidavits failed to show either that the voyage in question ended in a U.S. port or that a wage claimant who was discharged in a U.S. port did not receive his wages within four days after his discharge or twenty-four hours after the discharge of the cargo. Therefore, the appellate court affirmed the district court's ruling on the ground that the wage claimants failed to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to their claim and on which they would bear the burden of proof at trial.

OUTCOME: The decision of the district court was affirmed.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:56 PM | Permalink

IAN JARRETT, Claimant - Petitioner, v. DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, Respondent - Respondent.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 15071
June 21, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Petitioner sought review of a decision of the Department of Labor's Benefits Review Board (BRB) that affirmed the administrative law judge's (ALJ) determination that petitioner was not eligible for compensation under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C.S. � 902.

OVERVIEW: The appellate court noted that the sole question presented on review was whether, for purposes of compensation for an injury, petitioner should have been considered a land-based employee covered by the LHWCA, 33 U.S.C.S. � 902(3), or a seaman covered by the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. � 30104(a). The court noted a two part test articulated by the United States Supreme Court to determine whether a worker was excluded from the LHWCA coverage as a master or member of a crew of any vessel. First, an employee's duties had to contribute to the function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of the mission. Second, the employee had to have a connection to a vessel in navigation that was substantial in terms of both its duration and its nature. Because petitioner did not dispute that his work contributed to the function of a vessel, the court moved to the second part of the test. Given the absence of substantial evidence showing that petitioner's job fundamentally changed in the months directly prior to his accident, the court had to conclude that he continued to be covered by the LHWCA.

OUTCOME: The court granted the petition and remanded for an award of benefits.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:53 PM | Permalink

In Re: In the Matter of: AMERICAN RIVER TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, v. US MARITIME SERVICES, INC; ET AL, Defendants;
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 14464
June 19, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Claimants, the parents of a deceased longshoreman employed by petitioner employer, filed an interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C.S. � 1292(a)(3) from a judgment issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, dismissing their wrongful death claim seeking damages for loss of society and granting summary judgment to the employer in its limitation of liability proceedings under former 46 U.S.C.S. app. � 181 et seq.

OVERVIEW: The 24-year-old decedent died when he jumped from a barge on which he was employed into territorial waters in an attempt to save a coworker who had fallen from the barge. The decedent had been incarcerated for the five years immediately preceding his death and had not provided any financial support to his parents, either before or after his incarceration. At issue was whether non-dependent parents could recover for loss of society in maritime wrongful death actions in which a deceased longshoreman or harbor worker died in territorial waters. The district court held that they could not. On appeal, the court agreed. The court applied the U.S. Supreme Court's Miles rule, which held that survivors of seamen who died in territorial waters or on the high seas could recover pecuniary damages but not nonpecuniary damages, such as for loss of society. The court drew no distinction between the Miles decedent, who was a seaman, and the instant decedent, who was a longshoreman. Restricting the recovery of nonpecuniary damages to dependents of a decedent served the policy goal of limiting the class of relatives and friends who could otherwise assert claims for the loss of love and affection.

OUTCOME: The court affirmed the judgment of the district court. The court dismissed the parents' appeal of their survival claim because the issue was not presented to or decided by the district court.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:52 PM | Permalink

ALAN BEEGAL AND BONNIE BEEGAL, KENNETH SATALOFF AND SHEILA SATALOFF, LAWRENCE BENTON AND CAROL BENTON, MICHAEL BLOCK AND ABBE BLOCK, ROBERT WAXLER, ESQUIRE AND STELLA ROSNER, , v. PARK WEST GALLERY, PARK WEST AT SEA, Defendants-Appellants, and CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES, Defendant.
SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY, APPELLATE DIVISION
2007 N.J. Super. LEXIS 189
June 22, 2007, Decided

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Defendants, two affiliated corporations conducting art auctions on cruise ships, appealed the order of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Burlington County, which certified the putative class of plaintiff bidders. Plaintiffs had brought a fraud suit against defendants, claiming that defendants inflated the prices of the art through fraudulent bidding practices.

OVERVIEW: Plaintiffs were all State of New Jersey residents representing the putative class, which they asserted included potentially thousands of United States residents who, between 1996 and the present, attended defendants' art auctions on cruise ships. Plaintiffs argued that members of the class were injured by defendants' fraudulent scheme either because they paid too much for the art, or because they were unable to purchase art as a result of defendants' fraudulent practices. The court found merit in defendants' argument that individual factual issues predominated over common issues since the members of the class who did not purchase art may have suffered no loss and, as to them, the fact of damages did not predominate. Further, as to those members who did purchase art, an accurate damages calculation would require an analysis of each individual claim. Most significantly, the court determined that maritime law applied, which made maritime choice of law principles as to the application of substantive law applicable. As such, each putative class member's home state law had to be applied, which presented insurmountable difficulties in the management of the class action.

OUTCOME: The court reversed the order certifying the class as an abuse of the trial court's discretion upon concluding that the difficulties likely to be encountered in the management of the case as a class action due to the required application of the governing law of each plaintiffs' state of residence precluded certification. The case was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with the court's opinion.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:52 PM | Permalink

JEFF GRUVER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LESMAN FISHERIES INC.; BOB LESMAN; F/V SUNSET CHARGE, Official Number 534685, in rem, Defendants-Appellees.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 13020
June 6, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff seaman sued defendants, a former employer and a vessel, alleging negligence in connection with an assault and unpaid wages. The unpaid wages claim was dismissed. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington granted defendants' motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The seaman appealed.

OVERVIEW: The seaman quit working for the employer and began to work for another fishing vessel. The seaman claimed the employer owed him unpaid wages and confronted the employer at the dock. The employer mailed the seaman his final check and the seaman left him a threatening message on his voicemail about getting paid. When he received the check, the seaman again called the employer and disputed the amount paid and threatened the employer and his property if not paid in full. While the seaman was in his bunk on his current work vessel, the employer and another individual attacked him which resulted in the seaman suffering broken ribs and a punctured lung. The district court held that the seaman failed to establish admiralty jurisdiction. The appellate court found that the physical beating of the seaman, which left him unable to perform his fishing duties, had a detrimental effect on maritime commerce. The employer's failure to pay the seaman for services rendered had a sufficient connection to traditional maritime activity. The relevant activity giving rise to the assault in this case was a failure to pay wages for maritime services performed aboard a commercial vessel.

OUTCOME: The district court's dismissal of the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction was reversed and the case was remanded for further proceedings.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:50 PM | Permalink

INACIO EUFEMIO LOBO, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CELEBRITY CRUISES, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 13141; 20 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 704
June 7, 2007, Decided

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff cruise ship worker appealed a judgment from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, dismissing with prejudice his complaint for unpaid wages and penalty wages brought under the Seaman's Wage Act, 46 U.S.C.S. � 10313.

OVERVIEW: The worker was a stateroom attendant who complained that he was required by his employer to share gratuities with his assistants by paying them $1.20 per passenger per day from his own earnings. The worker alleged that the cruise line was able to impose the requirement through duress and as a result of the unequal bargaining position of the parties and that the requirement constituted a failure to pay wages in violation of the collective bargaining agreement governing his employment. The district court dismissed the claim, finding that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, art. II(1) June 10, 1958, 21 U.S.T. 2517, 330 U.N.T.S. 38, and its implementing legislation, 9 U.S.C.S. �� 202-208, superseded the Seaman's Wage Act and compelled arbitration of the claim. On appeal, the court agreed. Deciding an issue of first impression, the court held that the Convention required enforcement of the collective bargaining agreement's arbitration provision. Congress did not intend the Convention to be superseded by the Seaman's Wage Act with respect to wage disputes raised by foreign cruise ship workers.

OUTCOME: The court affirmed.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:50 PM | Permalink