Cruise Ship Law

JENGGI KALUOM, Individually, and on behalf of those similarly situated, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus STOLT OFFSHORE INC; ET AL, Defendants, STOLT OFFSHORE INC., Defendant-Appellee.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 23813; 12 Wage & Hour Cas. 2d (BNA) 1665
October 10, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff seaman appealed the grant of summary judgment to defendant alleged ship owner, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Galveston Division, on claims to a penalty wage under 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10313, 10504, finding the voyage requirements of 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10301, 10501, applied to the foreign vessel and that the vessel was not embarked on one of the voyage types of §§ 10301, 10501.

OVERVIEW: 46 U.S.C.S. § 10301(a) clearly dictated that 46 U.S.C.S. § 10313 applied only to vessels that met the foreign or intercoastal voyage requirement. Section 10313's penalty wage provision was thus limited by 46 U.S.C.S. § 10301's voyage requirement, whether the vessel was American or foreign. Because the ship was on neither a foreign nor an intercoastal voyage, § 10313's penalty wage provision did not apply. Because 46 U.S.C.S. § 10501 dictated that 46 U.S.C.S. § 10504 applied only to those vessels not covered by 46 U.S.C.S. ch. 103 that had embarked on a voyage between a port in one State and a port in another State, except an adjoining State, and because the ship was not on such a voyage, 46 U.S.C.S. § 10504's penalty did not apply. 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10313, 10504, had to be read in conjunction with 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10301, 10501. The assertion that including the phrase "in a harbor of the United States" in 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10313(i), 10504(e), indicated the lack of a voyage requirement for foreign vessels was rejected. The voyage requirements in 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10301, 10501, applied to seamen on both American and foreign vessels who sought penalty wages under 46 U.S.C.S. §§ 10313, 10504.

OUTCOME: The district court's grant of summary judgment was affirmed.