Opinion ID: 392188
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Seaman's Wage Act

Text: 21 Although the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act exclusively controls the jurisdiction of the district court, 9 it does not provide a cause of action or dictate substantive rules of liability. H.R.Rep.No.94-1487, supra, at 11; Sugarman v. Aeromexico, Inc., 626 F.2d 270, 275 (3d Cir. 1980). The plaintiffs base their cause of action on the Seaman's Wage Act, 46 U.S.C. §§ 596-97; consequently we must examine the substantive policies underlying that Act. 22 This statute, derived from legislation dating back to 1790, 10 is broadly designed to safeguard seamen, the historical wards of admiralty. Section 596 provides that the master or owner of a vessel making a foreign voyage shall pay the crew one-third of wages due within twenty-four hours after cargo is discharged. Its companion provision, § 597, states that seamen shall be entitled to receive on demand from the master one-half of the balance of wages due at each port in which the vessel loads or delivers cargo. This right specifically applies to seamen on foreign vessels while in the harbors of the United States, and the courts of the United States shall be open to such seamen for its enforcement. 11 Courts have construed this extension of rights to foreign seamen to apply under § 596, as well. See, e. g., Mavromatis v. United Greek Shipowners' Corp., 179 F.2d 310 (1st Cir. 1950). 23 The purpose of the Seaman's Wage Act is to protect from overreaching a generally impecunious class, and to insure that foreigners will not be turned ashore without funds, so that they become a public charge on the harbor. Strathearn S.S. Co. v. Dillon, 252 U.S. 348, 40 S.Ct. 350, 64 L.Ed. 607 (1920); Mavromatis, supra. The protective mantle of the Act is not confined to foreign seamen, however; it also guards the interests of American seamen by equalizing the cost of operating United States and foreign flag vessels. American shipowners are thereby discouraged from placing their vessels under foreign flags, and foreign owners have no special incentive to avoid hiring United States citizens as crewmembers. See Montiero v. Sociedad Maritima San Nicolas, S.A., 280 F.2d 568 (2d Cir. 1960). 24 To effectuate the protective thrust of the Seaman's Act, courts must construe it liberally in favor of its beneficiaries. Forster v. Oro Navigation Co., 228 F.2d 319 (2d Cir. 1955); Johnson v. Isbrandtsen Co., 190 F.2d 991 (3d Cir.), aff'd, 343 U.S. 779, 72 S.Ct. 1011, 96 L.Ed. 1294 (1951). A final principle worthy of note is that the purposes of the Act can best be achieved by giving foreign seamen unobstructed, mandatory access to the federal courts. Montiero, supra, 280 F.2d at 573.