Opinion ID: 466523
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: maritime right to maintenance

Text: 8 The Seaman's right to maintenance dates back to the Middle Ages. Gilmore and Black, The Law of Admiralty 281 (2d ed. 1975). Maintenance is the duty of a shipowner to provide food and lodging to a seaman who falls ill or becomes injured while in the service of the ship. Calmar S.S. Corp. v. Taylor, 303 U.S. 525, 528, 58 S.Ct. 651, 653, 82 L.Ed. 993 (1938). The right to maintenance is tied to the right to cure, i.e., necessary medical services, and both extend to the point of maximum recovery. Vaughn v. Atkinson, 369 U.S. 527, 531, 82 S.Ct. 997, 999, 8 L.Ed.2d 88 (1962). In addition, a seaman is entitled to recover unearned wages. The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 175, 23 S.Ct. 483, 487, 47 L.Ed. 760 (1903); Norris, The Law of Seamen Sec. 26.7 at 15-16 (4th ed. 1985). In sum, the elements of the common law maintenance and cure action included a living allowance during the recovery period (maintenance), reimbursement for medical expenses (cure), and unearned wages for the period from the onset of injury or illness until the end of the voyage. Gilmore and Black, 281, 305, 309. 9 Traditionally, maintenance has been said to serve three purposes: (1) to protect the poor and improvident seaman while ill in foreign ports, (2) to encourage shipowners to protect the seaman's safety and health while in service, and (3) to induce employment in the merchant marine. See Vella Ford Motor Co., 421 U.S. 1, 3-4, 95 S.Ct. 1381, 1382-83, 43 L.Ed.2d 682 (1975), quoting Aguilar v. Standard Oil Co., 318 U.S. 724, 727, 63 S.Ct. 930, 932, 87 L.Ed. 1107 (1943); Gypsum Carriers v. Handelsman, 307 F.2d 525, 536 (9th Cir.1962). 10 The duty to provide maintenance is imposed by law. Cortes v. Baltimore Insular Line, 287 U.S. 367, 371, 53 S.Ct. 173, 174, 77 L.Ed. 368 (1932) (per Cardozo, J.). The obligation is said to be an incident of the status of the seaman, and contractual only in that the obligation has its source in the employment relationship. Id. Although courts have sometimes characterized the duty as an implied contract provision, see, e.g., Aguilar v. Standard Oil Co., 318 U.S. 724, 730, 63 S.Ct. 930, 934, 87 L.Ed. 1107 (1943), they have consistently held that the right to maintenance cannot be abrogated by contract, Cortes, 287 U.S. at 371, 53 S.Ct. at 174. 11 Case law defines the extent of the right to maintenance, and how it is measured. The seaman is entitled to food and lodging of the kind and quality of that which he would receive aboard ship. Calmar S.S. Corp., 303 U.S. at 528, 58 S.Ct. at 653. Traditionally, the right was restricted to actual out-of-pocket expenses. Gilmore and Black at 305; Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 46, 68 S.Ct. 391, 92 L.Ed. 468 (1948). However, more recent cases have awarded a flat per diem rate without further inquiry. Gilmore and Black at 307. A rate of $8.00 per day was judicially established in the late 1940's. Id. Apparently that rate has been continued down to the present time in many places, both as the rate to be paid to individual non-union seamen and the rate frequently established in collective bargaining agreements. Very recently, the $8.00 rate has been successfully challenged in cases involving individual non-union seamen. See, e.g., Incandela v. American Dredging Co., 659 F.2d 11, 14 (2d Cir.1981). 12 When the $8.00 rate established in a collective bargaining agreement has been challenged by one or more union members, the district courts have not reached uniform results. For example, the contract provision was enforced in Grove v. Dixie Carriers, Inc., 553 F.Supp. 777 (E.D.La.1982) and Hodges v. Keystone Shipping Co., 578 F.Supp. 620 (S.D.Tex.1983) and denied enforcement in Rutherford, 575 F.Supp. 1365. We are apparently the first Court of Appeals to decide whether the $8.00 rate as established in a collective bargaining agreement should or should not be enforced.