On June 24, 2019, the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice Alito, decided The Dutra Group v. Batterton, which answered the question, can a Jones Act seaman recover punitive damages on his or her unseaworthiness claim? The plaintiff, a Jones Act seaman employed by Dutra Group, was injured on the defendant’s dredge vessel on the West Coast. A hatch blew open and crushed his hand. The district court denied the defendant’s motion to strike the punitive damages claim; the Ninth Circuit affirmed. This decision set up a split in the circuits, because a couple of years earlier the en banc Fifth Circuit held that punitive damages were not available under the rationale of an earlier Supreme Court case, Miles v. Apex Marine.
The Supreme Court, by a vote of 6-3, reversed the Ninth Circuit and held that punitive damages are not available in an unseaworthiness cause of action. Don Haycraft will analyze the opinion and the dissent, written by Justice Ginsberg.
Featuring:
Don Haycraft, Of Counsel, Liskow & Lewis

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