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New Maritime Arbitration Case From Eleventh Circuit - Doe v. Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd.

New maritime arbitration case from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  It arises from a sexual assault perpetrated by a cruise ship employee upon another employee.  The victim brought suit against the cruise line asserting various maritime employment causes of action (Jones Act, maintenance and cure, etc.)  The employer sought to compel arbitration of her complaint per her employment agreement.  The trial court denied the motion to compel arbitration.  This appeal followed.  The case is Doe v. Princess Cruise Lines, Ltd., 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 19502 and it can be found here.

Never a good feeling for appellant when the court begins:

On its website, Princess Cruise Lines proclaims to the world, as one of its “core values,” that: “The safety and security of our passengers and employees is our most important responsibility.” The cruise line says that it recognizes crew members as its “greatest asset,” and shows its appreciation to them by making their “life onboard the best it can be.” It boasts of making “every effort possible to offer its crew members an enjoyable environment and a rewarding career.”

All of those statements are but empty words, and cynical ones at that, if the allegations in the complaint that is before us are to be believed. Those allegations tell a story of a woman, working for Princess Cruise Lines on one of its ships, who was drugged by other employees, raped and physically injured while she was unconscious, and when she reported to officials of the cruise line what had happened to her they treated her with indifference and even hostility, failed to provide her with proper medical treatment on board, and interfered with herattempts to obtain medical treatment and counseling ashore.

Ultimately, the court analyzed the complaint, count by count, and did compel arbitration of those counts that arose out of the employment context or those counts that the victim was only allowed to bring by virtue of her status as an employee.

New Ninth Circuit Opinion in the Hawaii - Guam Cabotage Case

The Filed Rate Doctrine.

Roughly speaking, the Filed Rate Doctrine is a bar to any antitrust lawsuit challenging rates for services that have been approved by a federal agency.  In the case of maritime cargo trade, carriers must submit their rates to the Surface Transportation Board.

I have posted earlier (here and here)  on the cabotage antitrust case pending in Seattle relating to the rates charged for shipping by Horizon and Matson.  The District Court dismissed the complaint alleging antitrust violations on the basis of the filed rate doctrine.  Last week, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal.  The unpublished, summary opinion can be found here.