Cruise Ship Law

RICHARD ZENTNER VERSUS SEACOR MARINE, INC.
COURT OF APPEAL OF LOUISIANA, FIRST CIRCUIT
2006 2049 (La.App. 1 Cir. 10/24/07); 2007 La. App. LEXIS 1928
October 24, 2007, Judgment Rendered

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff vessel captain sued defendant vessel owner under the Jones Act and general maritime law, alleging that the vessel owner was negligent in failing to properly supervise a deckhand and in failing to remove him from the vessel after his insubordination. The 16th Judicial District Court Parish of St. Mary (Louisiana) granted the vessel owner summary judgment, dismissing the captain's claims. The captain appealed the judgment.

OVERVIEW: Considering the evidence submitted in support of and in opposition to the vessel owner's motion for summary judgment on the Jones Act claim, nothing indicated that the verbal confrontations between the captain and deckhand placed the captain in reasonable apprehension of physical harm so as to satisfy the zone of danger test enunciated by the United States Supreme Court. As for the general maritime law claim, the captain offered no evidence that the vessel was not a reasonably safe vessel upon which to work, that the deckhand was a violent person, or that the vessel owner knew or should have known that the deckhand might have posed a danger to other crew members when it hired him. Absent any such evidence, the appellate court agreed with the trial court, that, as a matter of law, the captain did not have a claim against the vessel owner based in negligence under the Jones Act or for unseaworthiness of its vessel for any psychological injuries allegedly sustained by him as a result of his verbal confrontations with the deckhand.

OUTCOME: The summary judgment was affirmed.