holding that seamen do not have a remedy of punitive damages for personal injuries but non-seamen do
How later courts described this case
- holding that seamen do not have a remedy of punitive damages for personal injuries but non-seamen do
- agreeing with the Fifth Circuit that the Supreme Court’s 17 decision in Miles “effectively overruled” loss of consortium claims filed under the Jones Act or 18 under general admiralty law
- agreeing that wives of injured mariners cannot recover for loss of society and loss of consortium in their own actions filed under the Jones Act or under general admiralty law
- holding wives of v. Brown Marine Serv., Inc., injured mariners cannot recover for loss of consortium under general admiralty law
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
PER CURIAM:
Cheryl Smith appeals a summary judgment which denied. her claim for loss of consortium in her action against the shipowner on whose vessel her husband sustained an injury. We affirm.
The Supreme Court in
Miles v. Apex Marine Corp.,
498 U.S. 19 , 111 S.Ct. 317 , 112 L.Ed.2d 275 (1990) precluded actions for loss of society under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.App. § 688, and general admiralty law. We agree with the district court that the Supreme Court’s holding in
Miles
has changed the law, and that wives of injured mariners may no longer sue the ship for damages for their nonpecuniary losses, if any, caused by the injuries to the spouse.
The Fifth Circuit recently faced this same issue in
Murray v. Anthony J. Bertucci Constr. Co., Inc.,
958 F.2d 127 (5th Cir.),
cert. denied,
— U.S. —, 113 S.Ct. 190 , 121 L.Ed.2d 134 (1992), and held that
Miles
had effectively overruled earlier Fifth Circuit cases allowing wives of injured mariners to recover for loss of society and loss of consortium in their own actions filed under the Jones Act or under general admiralty law.
Id.
at 129-132 . We agree with the Fifth Circuit’s reading of
Miles
and affirm the summary judgment.
AFFIRMED.