[Please excuse the quick post, but I am on active duty with the Coast Guard Reserve for the next two weeks.]

The Supreme Court just granted a cert. petition to address the issue of punitive damages in Jones Act cases, here. 

Per SCOTUSBLOG, the issue below is:

In the new case involving the rights of an injured seaman (Atlantic Sounding, et al., v. Townsend, 08-214), the Court stepped in to resolve a conflict in lower courts on whether punitive damages are available for a shipboard worker hurt on the job if the owner or operator denies “maintenance and cure” payments.  Maintenance, in this context, means a basic living allowance and wages that a seaman otherwise would have earned, and cure means benefits that cover medical needs.

The appeal contends that the two laws that provide remedies for seamen’s injuries or death on the job — the Jones Act and the Death on the High Seas Act — do not cover any damages other than the seaman’s own direct loss; in other words, they do not cover “non-pecuniary damages.”  The appeal asserts that the Supreme Court has made clear that benefits in the maritime industry should be uniform across the country, and should depend mainly on what Congress has authorized in legislation.

More to follow.