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Cleaning Up Punitive Damages: A Statutory Solution For Unguided Punitive-Damages Awards In Maritime Cases, Richard A. Chastain

Vanderbilt Law Review

Intentionally destroying property-boundary markers by sawing down the posts.' Causing environmental disasters. Fraudulently refusing to settle insurance claims within coverage limits. Bad-faith dealing in big oil contracts. Hiding mild weather damage to new vehicles. Creating and marketing cigarettes while knowing about their carcinogenic risks. Contributing to automobile accidents. No, these are not items on some nefarious villain's to-do list. These are all examples of cases where courts have awarded punitive damages against the tortfeasors on top of their compensatory liability. While each tort is unquestionably wrong, some certainly appear more wrong than others.

In recent years, punitive damages have become …

Charting The Law Of Maritime Boundaries, W. P. Gormley

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

When faced with disputes concerning maritime boundaries, one must analyze an array of materials, including: unilateral state practices, bilateral boundary agreements, multilateral regional conventions, the major international conventions--particularly the Law of the Sea Conventions of 1958 and the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention -- and customary international law. Beyond question, this huge corpus of material appears overwhelming to most practitioners and scholars when they attempt to resolve maritime disputes. Faced with such a daunting task, scholars, practitioners, and judges may want to consult International Maritime Boundaries, a brilliantly executed research project that analyzes 134 maritime boundaries. The …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Quaderni Di Scienze Criminali: The Penal Protection of Works of Art. Edited by the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences. Siracusa, Italy: The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences, 1983. Pp. 447.

Japanese Business Law and the Legal System. By Elliott J. Hahn. Westport, Connecticut and London, England: Quorum Books, 1984. Pp. vii, 168. $35.00.

The Exchange Rate System: Lessons of the Past and Options for the Future. Edited by Ellas H. Wright. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1984. Pp. vii, 55. $7.50.

The International Maritime Organization. Edited by Samie Mandrabody. London: Croom Helm Ltd., 1984. …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

EMPLOYEE WHO SPENDS "SOME PORTION OF WORK TIME IN MARITIME ACTIVITIES" IS AN "EMPLOYEE" COVERED BY THE LONGSHOREMEN'S AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT-Schwabenland v.Sanger Boats, 683 F.2d 309 (9th Cir. 1982)

UNITED STATES CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA ACT EXEMPTS DEFENDANT FROM LIABILITY FOR SHIP DAMAGE INCURRED WHILE DISCHARGING CARGO--Seven Seas Transportation Ltd. v. Pacifico Union Marina Corp. [1982] 2 Lloyd's L.R. 465

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE DISTRICT DIRECTOR IS ENTITLED TO BROAD DISCRETION IN WEIGHING CRITERIA FOR PAROLE DETERMINATION OF UNADMITTED ALIENS--Bertrand v. Sava,684 F.2d 204 (2d Cir. 1982)

THE RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS ACT DOES NOT APPLY TO …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

APPLICATION OF UNITED STATES LAW TO A FOREIGN SEAMAN'S SUIT DEPENDS UPON THE SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE FOREIGN DEFENDANT'S CONTACTS WITH THE UNITED STATES--Szumlicz v. Norwegian America Line, Inc., 698 F.2d 1192 (11th Cir. 1983).

RECOVERY PURSUANT TO THE FISHERMEN'S PROTECTIVE ACT FOR LOSSES RESULTING FROM SEIZURE OF VESSLS FISHING IN DISPUTED WATERS Is NOT LIMITED TO CITIZENS AND RESIDENT ALIENS OF THE UNITED STATES-CrUZ V. Zapata Ocean Resources, Inc., 695 F.2d 428 (9th Cir. 1982).

UNITED STATES SUPPORT OF CANADIAN SEARCH OF UNITED STATES VESSEL ON THE HIGH SEAS DID NOT VIOLATE DEFENDANT'S FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS--United States v. Hensel, 699 …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Case Digest--

Spouse of Injured Seaman May Recover Damages for Loss of Society under Maritime Common Law

Federal District Court Lacks Jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1350 over Fraud Action Brought by Alien when Claim Fails to Implicate a Treaty or Body of Rules Governing Relations between Foreign States

Jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Requires at Least a Finding of International Shoe "Minimum Contacts"

Appellate Court will not Review the Post-Settlement Appeal of a Pre-Settlement Provisional Remedy without District Court Consideration of the Intervening Events

Foreign States are Subject to Liability for Non-Commercial Torts arising from the Commercial …

Limitation Of Liability Versus Direct Action Statutes, H. Barton Williams

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The legislative history of the maritime limitation of liability statutes, both in the United States and in England, is uncomplicated. The original sources are available, and in several important opinions, the Supreme Court of the United States has set forth the history of the limitation statutes. Limitation of liability to the value of the owner's interest in the vessel and freight is a principle that springs solely from the general maritime law, and was not recognized either at common law or by the civil law.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to say when and where the idea of limitation …

The Three Faces Of Zapata: Maritime Law, Federal Common Law, Federal Courts Law, Harold G. Maier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In The Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., the Supreme Court upheld the selection of a London forum in a towage contract between a German firm and an American firm and dismissed a suit brought in a Florida federal district court whose jurisdiction was otherwise valid. In doing so, the Court stated the rule: "[Forum-selection clauses] are prima facie valid and should be enforced unless enforcement is shown by the resisting party to be 'unreasonable' under the circumstances." The Court qualified the rule by indicating that to be enforceable such clauses must be actually bargained for and agreed to by the …

The Bases And Range Of Federal Maritime Law: Indicia Of Maritime Competence, Arthur R. Louv

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Constitution and federal statutes of the United States establish three forms of jurisdiction for the federal judiciary--diversity, federal question, and admiralty and maritime. This scheme of multi-based jurisdiction necessarily raises a fundamental problem in our federal judicial system: the interrelation of these grants of power.

Mr. Justice Story, the author of the opinion in Swift v. Tyson, viewed the grants of diversity, federal question, and maritime competence as complementary, and utilized this concept in an attempt to create a uniform body of federal commercial common law. In "Erie Railroad Company v. Tompkins", however, the Supreme Court rejected the principle …

Maritime Jurisdiction Over Fishery Resources, Gilbert T. Davis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Economic necessity and recent developments in marine technology have caused man to begin his move into the sea on a grand scale, occupying and exploiting it for recreation, minerals, food, waste disposal, and possible living space. These new technological advances and the increased need for the traditional fishery resources have precipitated the interests of nations in expanding their exclusive jurisdictions further into an ocean space where it had been traditionally free for all to use. Though this move for exclusive jurisdiction is motivated by the uniform desire of all nations to more efficiently utilize and conserve the resources and to …

Workmen's Compensation At Sea, Charles D. Evens

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the present time there are three possible remedies available to seamen who are injured in the course of their employment. In order to maintain any of these actions, the injured party must of course qualify as a seaman. The traditional tests used to determine whether a maritime worker is a seaman are as follows: 1) the vessel must be in navigation, 2) the worker must have a more or less permanent connection with the vessel, and 3) the worker must be aboard the vessel primarily to aid in navigation. These standards have been somewhat modified by Offshore Company v. …

The Case For A Seagoing Workmen's Compensation Act, Parker B. Smith

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the present time no comprehensive workmen's compensation statute exists to provide coverage for seamen injured in the course of their employment. The seaman's only existing remedies consist of an action for maintenance and cure, an action for breach of the shipowner's warranty of seaworthiness, and an action for negligence under the Jones Act. These remedies offer unsatisfactory protection to the seaman for several reasons. Under the existing remedies the seaman may be unable to obtain any recovery because the shipowner has the traditional right to "limit liability" to the seaman at the outset of the seaman's action for recovery. …