Richard J. Serpe, P.C. Blog

Richard J. Serpe, P.C. Blog

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Jones Act and Maritime Injury

11/8/2007
Richard Serpe
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Spirit of Nantucket cruise ship grounded in Pungo, Virginia Beach Nov. 8
PASSENGERS BEING RESCUED FROM GROUNDED CRUISE SHIP OFF PUNGO
The captain of a small cruise ship with 66 people aboard purposefully ran the craft aground on the Intracoastal Waterway this morning after it started taking on water. The Coast Guard was in the process of off-loading passengers about 10:45 a.m.
For story details, go to http://www.PilotOnline.com and http://www.HamptonRoads.com
A key legal question facing passengers on cruise ships: "Can I have my claim for a serious maritime injury heard by a jury, or do I have to go to an arbitration panel that will decide my case?"
Many people who have suffered an injury on a cruise ship discover that this question will domnate the process of seeking recovery for a serious cruise ship injury. The problem arises when cruise line companies, in an effort to short circuit the Constitutional right to trial by jury, insert an ARBITRATION CLAUSE into the agreement with passengers who board their ship.
Victims of martime cruise injuries need to find a lawyer equipped to fully challenge these arbitration clauses. 
When a person suffers injury on a cruise ship, their claim is NOT covered by state law, but rather by the general maritime law. Special rules apply to these cruise ships which can aid a victime receive full compenstation. Victims should make sure that their lawyer has expertise is handling claims under this general maritime law. 
"A vessel operator owes passengers and visitors aboard its vessel a duty of reasonable care under the circumstances to not negligently injure them and to warn them of any dangers of which he knows or should know.  Liability of a passenger carrier for creating and maintaining a dangerous condition must be predicated on actual or constructive notice of its existence."
"A split authority whether a vessel operator owes to passengers a duty of "reasonable care" or the "highest duty of care" has been resolved that the duty is one of reasonable care under the circumstances, the circumstances requiring more diligence on teh part of the shipowner with respect to risks that are not normally encountered by passengers in their shoreside lives."
"46 U.S.C. App. Section 183c invalidates any provision in any contract for carriage of passengers on a voyage to or from a port of the United States which purports to exculpate the carrier or limit its liability, or limit the claimant's right to trial, for death or injury to a passenger."
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