Welcome to this early summer edition of the Bodily Injury News- letter which places particular emphasis on ‘maintenance and cure’. The breadth of exposure through this avenue of claim is not widely understood. The seemingly limitless potential for punitive damages where owners fail to pay maintenance and cure, is explored as is the trend towards palliative treatment which raises the prospect of a continued cost for owners. Recent issues and developments arising from crew injury through falling overboard and parting mooring lines are also reviewed.
Mike Jarrett President & CEO
Thomas Miller (Americas) Inc. Direct Line: +1 201 557 7343
Mike joined Thomas Miller in 1980 with a law degree and managed one of the London syndicates before moving to America in 1993.
US Bodily Injury News
The TMA Bodily Injury newsletter enables a wider sharing of the Team’s expertise and experience. We always welcome your feedback on the topics we cover in these newsletters. Sugges- tions for subjects for future coverage are also particularly welcome. Please send your comments or suggestions to Louise at
louise.livingston@
thomasmiller.com
Further information on these topics can be obtained directly from the TMA Bodily Injury Team (see back cover for contact details).
Further information on these topics and the issues raised can be obtained from the authors whose contact details can be found on the back page. As always we welcome your feedback on the topics we cover in our newsletter and suggestions for future topics.
Save the date
The 20th and 21st September should be set aside for those who wish to join us at our Bodily Injury Seminar, here in New Jersey. Always an extremely popular event, the seminar combines some expert instruction with engaging and practical hands-on case studies and workshops.
This year we expect the event to be even better. We will be reviewing good practice vs. bad practice in public relations following a major incident and also how to preserve privilege in such circumstances. We have prepared a unique case study that will give participants a “fly on the wall” perspective on the inner workings of court process and reveal some of the assumptions and misconceptions that may influence outcomes on cases going before juries.
As always there will be a combination of external speakers and Thomas Miller Americas executives to guide debate and give full opportunity to Members to share their own expertise and experience.
If you wish to attend the seminar, please get in touch with your usual TMA contact. Members outside the Americas region should contact myself or Louise Livingston in the TMA San Francisco office (
louise.livingston@
thomasmiller.com) to arrange a place.
CONTENTS Maintenance & Cure
To ease without curing
3 5
No limit on punitive damages 7 Unearned wages
9
Parting mooring lines Man overboard
11 13
Welcome Noreen Arralde Noreen joined the TMA New Jersey claims team in March. Previously Noreen practiced law for thirteen years as a partner in a New York litigation firm specialising in maritime law. Noreen has tried many cases to verdict in federal and state courts and argued appeals to the Second Circuit. She otained her Juris Doctor magna cum laude from St Johns University School of Law. Between 1993-1999 Noreen was Manager of P&I claims for a well known global container operator.
Noreen will be handling both P&I and Defence claims and is a member of the TMA Bodily Injury Team. We look forward to introducing Noreen to our Members and business partners over the coming months and drawing on her practical experience as a trial attorney.
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