Crew Member Cases. Maintenance and cure is a remedy that a shipowner must provide to seamen who become ill or injured while in the service of a ship. See, The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 175 (1903).
The right to maintenance and cure has existed as a matter of federal common law since the early 19th century (see, Gillikin v. United States, 764 F. Supp. 261, 264 (E.D.N.Y. 1991) and cannot be abrogated by contract. De Zon v. American President Lines, 318 U.S. 660, 667, 63 S.Ct. 814, 818 (1943). The maintenance and cure remedy originated in medieval sea codes more than 700 years ago. See, The Osceola, supra at 161; see also, Dowdle v. Offshore Express, Inc. 809 F.2d 259, 263 (5th Cir. 1987) (tracing the historical development of the maintenance and cure doctrine over the last 1,000 years).
