In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1990 landmark decision in Miles v. Apex Marine Corp., federal and state courts have grappled with whether a seaman has the right to recover punitive damages under a claim of unseaworthiness. Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Batterton v. Dutra Group, joined some courts who answer in the affirmative—seamen may sue for punitive damages under a general maritime claim of unseaworthiness even after Miles.
Miles held that nonpecuniary damages of loss of society and lost future earnings were not available in a wrongful death action brought by a deceased seaman’s mother. The Ninth Circuit reads Miles narrowly as only limiting claims for the wrongful death of a Jones Act seaman by the seaman’s survivor to pecuniary damages and does not limit all causes of action arising under general maritime law, such as a seaman’s claim for maintenance and cure and unseaworthiness. As support for this rationale, the Ninth Circuit cites to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Atlantic Sounding Co. v Townsend. In Townsend, the Supreme Court held that the Miles prohibition against punitive damages did not apply to maintenance and cure cases. Additionally, the Townsend Court noted that historically punitive damages were available under general maritime law and Miles did not change that availability. The Ninth Circuit extends the Townsend rationale for permitting punitive damages under maintenance and cure claims to a seaman’s unseaworthiness claims under the general maritime law.
