UNSEAWORTHINESS DOCTRINE RESTRICTED

A recent decision of the United States Supreme Court seems to have restricted the unseaworthiness doctrine developed over the past 20 years. This decision has held, in effect, that it is not proper to extend the shipowners liability to equipment ashore on the grounds (as the Court of Appeals found) that the vessel could pass on those costs to the stevedores. The facts in the case involved a port of Mobile longshoreman who was injured operating a fork-lift truck on the dock handling ship's cargo. The fork lift was owned by the employer. As an example of the economic problem, it was reported that insurance costs in the port of Philadelphia amounted to 30 percent of company payrolls--the direct result of a sharp rise in third party suits that followed Court decisions.

• Corporate Authors:

  Lloyd's Corporation

  Lime Street
  London EC3M 7HA,   England 
• Publication Date: 1972-1-31

Media Info

• Pagination: 2 p.
• Serial:
  • Lloyd's Loading List
  • Publisher: Lloyd's Corporation

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Employee relations; Longshoremen; Seaworthiness; Workers compensation; Working conditions
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00034516
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Journal of the Israel Shipping Research Institute
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 27 1972 12:00AM