The Supreme Court is back in session. On October 6, 2014, the Court issued its Orders list, wherein a large number of cases were denied certiorari. Accordingly, the Court will not review:
Dize v. Association of Maryland Pilots. The question presented in Dize was whether, when applying the Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis thirty-percent rule–that, ordinarily, a qualifying “seaman” under the Jones Act must spend thirty percent or more of his time in service of a vessel in navigation–a court may consider the time a maritime worker spends in the service of a vessel in navigation that is moored, dockside, or ashore, as the Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits have held, or whether a court must categorically exclude such time, as the Eleventh Circuit and the Maryland Court of Appeals have held.
Gonzalvez v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc. The petitioners asked the Court to consider whether seamen are statutorily exempt from the 3-month limitations period under Chapter 1 of the Federal Arbitration Act. This case arose from dispute about sharing gratuities under the Seaman’s Wage Act. This link will take you to Lisa Schaeffer’s Lexis article “U.S. Supreme Court Denies Cert for Celebrity Cruise Line Workers.”
Downer v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. This case asked inter alia whether the Eleventh Circuit’s decision compelling arbitration for seafarers’ claims against a cruise line, under foreign law, deprives them of their American statutory rights in violation of the “effective vindication doctrine.”
Lyles v. Seacor Marine. In Lyles, the plaintiff lost a Jones Act and maintenance and cure claim nearly ten years before trying to reassert his claims. The Fifth Circuit denied the plaintiff’s claims and also admonished the plaintiff, writing that “future frivolous, repetitive, or otherwise abusive filings may result in the imposition of sanctions, including dismissal, monetary sanctions, and restrictions on his ability to file pleadings in this court or any court subject to [Fifth Circuit] jurisdiction.”
(Note: I first published this post on Navigable Waters: A Maritime, Longshore, and Defense Base Act Blog.)
