Court Upholds Limits on Maritime Suits

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that families of American seamen killed on the job may not be awarded monetary damages for lost future earnings or “loss of society.”

The 8-0 decision, the first signed opinion of the court’s 1990-91 term, said general maritime law allows wrongful-death lawsuits in such cases. But the damages that can be recovered are limited.

Loss of society is defined as a broad range of mutual benefits family members receive from each other, including love, affection, care, attention, companionship, comfort and protection.

The ruling was a defeat for the mother of a young seaman murdered while his ship was docked in Vancouver, Wash., six years ago.

“We sail in occupied waters. Maritime tort law is now dominated by federal statute, and we are not free to expand remedies at will simply because it might work to the benefit of seamen and those dependent upon them,” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote.

Justice David H. Souter, who joined the court after the case was argued last month, did not participate in the decision.

The ruling leaves families of seamen free to sue allegedly negligent shipowners and shipping companies under a 1920 federal law, the Jones Act, but that law places specific limits on such suits.

Ludwick Torregano, a 24-year-old galley assistant, was killed aboard the Archon on July 18, 1984. Clifford Melrose, the ship’s chief chef, stabbed Torregano at least 62 times and later was convicted of second-degree murder.

Torregano’s mother, Mercedel Miles, later sued the ship’s owners and operators in federal court in New Orleans, contending that their negligence in hiring an unfit crewman caused her son’s death.

Miles was awarded $140,000 for the pain and suffering Torregano experienced before his death and $7,800 for the loss of her son’s support. Those awards were made under the Jones Act.

But the jury refused to award additional damages, under general maritime law, for the loss of Torregano’s future income or for the loss of society by Miles and the seaman’s father, Joseph Torregano.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the damage award last year, and Tuesday’s decision in turn upheld the appeals court ruling.