Cruise Ship Law

Frank T. Caraska, Appellant, v. The Department of Transportation, Respondent.
COURT OF APPEALS OF WASHINGTON, DIVISION ONE
2007 Wash. App. LEXIS 2567
September 4, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant seaman filed a personal injury complaint against respondent Washington Department of Transportation Division of Washington State Ferries (WSF). A Washington trial court ruled that the seaman did not prove negligence under the Jones Act or unseaworthiness and dismissed the seaman's lawsuit. The seaman appealed the dismissal.

OVERVIEW: The seaman was working aboard a passenger ferry when he was attacked and seriously injured by an intoxicated passenger. The instant court concluded that the trial court erred in narrowly construing the WSF's duty to protect its crew members from an intoxicated passenger and ignoring evidence supporting the seaman's Jones Act negligence and unseaworthiness claims. The WSF owed the seaman a duty to provide a safe place to work and had adopted a safety management system (SMS) policy addressing intoxicated and disorderly passengers to ensure the safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew. The trial court ignored language in the WSF's SMS policy requiring ferry employees to contact the police and the ferry captain if an intoxicated passenger was disorderly, disruptive, or confrontational. In its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the trial court repeatedly focused only on whether the intoxicated passenger was acting in a threatening or aggressive manner. The trial court also erred in disregarding evidence at trial about whether the passenger was disorderly, disruptive, or confrontational.

OUTCOME: The trial court's decision to dismiss the seaman's Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims was reversed, and the case was remanded for further proceedings.