On June 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court — in a 6 to 3 decision — held that a seaman may not recover punitive damages on a claim of vessel unseaworthiness. In Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, the Supreme Court previously recognized that punitive damages are normally available under maritime cases. The Supreme Court further held, in Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend, that punitive damages are available in actions for maintenance and cure under general maritime law. Given that both of these cases were decided roughly a decade ago, it would not have seemed unreasonable for the Supreme Court to further extend the availability of punitive damages in situations involving vessel unseaworthiness. However, the Supreme Court rejected the recovery of punitive damages in unseaworthiness claims.

The Supreme Court reached its decision in Dutra Group v. Batterton largely by conducting a lengthy analysis of vessel unseaworthiness as the foundation of maritime causes of action. Based on this detailed review of vessel unseaworthiness, the Supreme Court concluded that the overwhelming historical evidence is that punitive damages are not available for vessel unseaworthiness claims. In the Supreme Court’s view, of those few maritime personal injury cases that previously granted punitive damages, the majority of those cases arose from the improper denial of maintenance and cure by the vessel owner.

In reaching this conclusion, the Supreme Court was guided in part by the need to maintain uniformity in the general maritime law of the United States. The Supreme Court found that vessel unseaworthiness claims were duplicative of Jones Act claims and since lower court have consistently held that punitive damages are not available under the Jones Act, it saw no basis by which punitive damages should be allowed. By comparison, in the case of Atlantic Sounding, the Supreme Court justified the recovery of punitive damages because there was an established history of awarding punitive damages for claims involving maintenance and cure.

Despite permitting punitive damages for certain maritime torts, the Supreme Court has set a precedent that punitive damages are not available for seamen claiming a recovery arising from vessel unseaworthiness.