(Download) "Cruz v. Hendy International Co." by Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Cruz v. Hendy International Co.
- Author : Fifth Circuit United States Court Of Appeals
- Release Date : January 12, 1981
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 64 KB
Description
This circuit decided four years ago that the wife of a seaman who survives after suffering a debilitating personal injury has no claim for the loss of consortium she would have enjoyed had he not been injured. Christofferson v. Halliburton Co., 534 F.2d 1147 (5th Cir. 1976), rehearing en banc denied, 542 F.2d 1174 (5th Cir. 1976). Bound by that decision, we affirmed a district court judgment dismissing a complaint by another seamans wife. Cruz v. Hendy International Co., 606 F.2d 319 (5th Cir. 1979). Thereafter the United States Supreme Court, in American Export Lines, Inc. v. Alvez, 446 U.S. 274, 100 S. Ct. 1673, 64 L. Ed. 2d 284 (1980), held that general maritime law authorizes the wife of a harbor worker injured nonfatally aboard a vessel in state territorial waters to maintain an action for damages for loss of her husbands society. At the time of the Supreme Courts Alvez decision, Cruzs petition for rehearing en banc was pending before this court. We denied that petition without prejudice and remanded this case to the original panel for a rehearing without oral argument to consider the effect of the Supreme Courts Alvez decision on Christofferson as precedent and on the claim asserted by Mrs. Cruz. Overruling Christofferson in part, we now hold that the spouse of a seaman whose nonfatal injuries are attributable to the unseaworthiness of a vessel has a general maritime law cause of action for loss of his society.