''Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend'', 557 U.S. 404 (2009), was a decision by the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
holding that a
seaman
Seaman may refer to:
* Sailor, a member of a marine watercraft's crew
* Seaman (rank), a military rank in some navies
* Seaman (name) (including a list of people with the name)
* ''Seaman'' (video game), a 1999 simulation video game for the Seg ...
may recover
punitive damages from his employer for failure to pay
maintenance and cure. ''Townsend'' reversed a line of cases, starting with ''Guevara v. Maritime Overseas Corp.'' in the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* Eastern District of Louisiana
* M ...
(
), that restricted damages in
maritime
Maritime may refer to:
Geography
* Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps
* Maritime Region, a region in Togo
* Maritime Southeast Asia
* The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...
personal injury cases only to "pecuniary" damages. Consequently, a seaman can now recover both
attorney's fees
Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney (lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest that when l ...
and punitive damages for the willful and wanton refusal of a shipowner to provide medical care to a seaman injured on the job. The Court's 5-4 opinion was delivered by Justice
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...
.
The Court explained that Congress never used the words "pecuniary" or "non-pecuniary" to describe the damages available for personal injuries (injuries not causing death) under either the
Jones Act or the
Federal Employers Liability Act. Congress merely said "damages"; hence, any limitation on those damages to "pecuniary damages" was a creation of the courts, not Congress. The Court stated that it "will not attribute words to Congress that Congress did not say."
External links
* {{caselaw source
, case = ''Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend'', {{Ussc, 557, 404, 2009, el=no
, cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/08-214.ZS.html
, courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/145851/atlantic-sounding-co-v-townsend/
, findlaw = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/557/404.html
, googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=8677207414512164930
, justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/557/404/
, oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-214
, other_source1 = Supreme Court (slip opinion) (archived)
, other_url1 =https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-214.pdf
United States Supreme Court cases
2009 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court
United States admiralty case law