Published by The Pellegrin Firm April 20, 2020

In a decision published April 15, 2020, a panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a New Orleans district judge’s findings in favor of an injured seaman. The ruling contains some positive findings that will be beneficial to future injured seamen. The injured man was chief engineer of the vessel and one of his duties the day he was injured was to store line on board. During this process, he discovered line lying on the upper deck creating a hazard. On the way back down to the lower deck, the plaintiff tripped over the line and fell ten feet. A CT scan determined the fall damaged several cervical discs.

The vessel owner argued it was the plaintiff’s responsibility to make sure the deck was free from hazards. The court rejected this argument because there was no way the plaintiff would have known about this before leaving on the voyage. The court found the plaintiff partially responsible for the injury – 20% – but held most of the fault fell on the vessel owner.

The district court ruled that the injured seaman was not due maintenance and cure because he misled the shipowner about previous injuries to his back before being hired. However, this did not affect his right to recover past medical expenses after the shipowner was found negligent. The court also rejected the shipowner’s argument that since the injured seaman continued working for a while, he could not have been that severely injured. The court recognized the reality that an injured employee will often try to continue working out of economic necessity even through pain until he or she can no longer do so. The case is Luwisch v American Marine Corporation, docket No. 19-30499 in the court of appeal.