Opinion ID: 71840
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Advancement

Text: Under the Jones Act, an injured seaman may recover damages for loss of earnings capacity, future lost earnings, medical expenses, and pain and suffering resulting from his injury. See 46 U.S.C. § 30104. The court determines future lost earnings with the assistance of expert testimony, taking into account the injured seaman’s current compensation and future variables such as inflation and invested rate of return. See, e.g., Williams v. Reading & Bates Drilling Co., 750 F.2d 487, 491–92 (5th Cir. 1985). Pallis worked as a wiper at the time of his injury. The district court found that Pallis’s lost wages between the date of his injury and the judgment totaled $99,148, reduced by $21,255 for wages Pallis earned from another employer during the same time. The district court also found that Pallis had a current earning capacity greater than his earning capacity at the time of his injury, noting testimony from Pallis’s treating physician that Pallis could perform administrative and clerical work and testimony from a defense expert identifying a number of possible jobs fitting that description. Because his current earning capacity exceeded his earning capacity at the time of his injury, the district court found that Pallis failed to mitigate his damages and could not recover future lost wages. The district court refused to assign Pallis damages at a higher pay grade because the court found it too speculative to assume that Pallis would acquire the required number of days at sea and pass the written examinations necessary to advance. Pallis argues that he is entitled to calculation of future lost wages at a higher level because he would have advanced from Group C to become a Qualified Member of the Engine Department, with its accompanying increased earning capacity. Pallis stated that he would eventually make the requisite forty additional days of sea time on the assignment that resulted in his injury. However, the district court also heard evidence casting doubt on the likelihood 9 Case: 09-40088 Document: 00511045781 Page: 10 Date Filed: 03/09/2010 No. 09-40088 that Pallis would accumulate this sea time. The district court found Pallis’s advancement argument too speculative. Viewing the record in its entirety, this finding is not implausible. We “should be wary of attempting to second guess the district court, which has the decided advantage of first hand experience concerning the testimony and evidence presented at trial.” Graham, 824 F.2d at 388. There is evidence in the record that it took Pallis some time to catch his first ship, accompanied by testimony that acquiring the total amount of sea time necessary to advance can be difficult. The district court did not clearly err when it found that Pallis’s assertion that he would accumulate the necessary sea time and successfully complete the required written exams was too speculative to craft a damage award at the higher pay grade.