Damages
July 23rd, 2019 by Rieders Travis in Damages
MARITIME LAW-PUNITIVE DAMAGES Dutra Group vs. Batterton, 2019 U.S. LEXIS 4202. This case asks whether a mariner may recover punitive damages on a claim that he was injured as a result of the unseaworthy condition of the vessel. We have twice confronted similar questions in the past several decades, and our holdings in both cases were based on the particular claims involved. In Miles, which concerned a wrongful-death claim under the general maritime law, we held that recovery was limited to pecuniary damages, which did not include loss of society. 498 U.S., at 23. And in Atlantic Sounding, after examining centuries of relevant case law, we held that the award on the traditional maritime claim of maintenance and cure. 557 U.S. at 4017. Here, because there is no historical basis for allowing punitive damages in unseaworthiness actions, and in order to promote uniformity with the way courts have applied parallel statutory causes of action, we hold that punitive damages remain unavailable in unseaworthiness actions. DAMAGES-NEGLIGENT INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS Murga v. Lehigh Valley Physicians Grp. 2018 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 3053 (November 26, 2018) Johnson, J.-Court…