New Maintenance & Cure case from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is Delaware River & Bay Authority v. Jan D. Kopacz, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 21260, and the original opinion can be found here.
Facts: a commuter seaman (ate and slept ashore) was injured at work and brought suit for maintenance and cure payments.
Issue: whether commuter seamen, who eat and sleep on land, are entitled to "maintenance and cure"-payment from a shipowner to a seaman to cover medical, food, and lodging expenses during the seaman's recovery from illness or injury; and (2) if so, whether a shipowner is relieved of its maintenance and cure obligation when the injured seaman receives Social Security disability benefits and long-term disability payments provided by the shipowner.
Law: After reviewing the history of the maintenance and cure claim and the policy reasons behind the claim, the court found that commuter seamen were indeed eligible for maintenance and cure payments. The court noted that for over 100 years, seamen were considered "wards" of the admiralty courts and their claims must be liberally construed in their favor. AS to whether Social Security's long-term disability payments somehow made the employer not liable for maintenance and cure, the court found that absent a provision in the seaman's collective bargaining agreement expressing a contrary intent, maintenance and cure payments cannot be offset from any disability payment from Social Security.
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