Death on the High Seas Act - Washington Attorneys Pursue Claims under DOHSA

1920 was a year when Congress paid a lot of attention to the need for codifying standards regarding the maritime industry. Not only did that Congress pass the Jones Act, which governs injuries suffered by workers at sea among other issues, but it also passed the Death On the High Seas Act, which is commonly known as DOHSA.

Below you will find an overview regarding DOHSA and how it works. You'll find information regarding who can bring an action under this statute, how damages and recovery are calculated, the statute of limitations involved and how the notion of contributory negligence affects these claims.

Parties Who Have Standing to Bring DOHSA Claim

Unlike many other situations in which damages are sought for injuries suffered, DOHSA is quite strict in terms of which parties can bring a lawsuit to recover damages. Specifically, only a personal representative of the spouse, children or dependent relatives of the worker who was killed can bring the lawsuit. No one else has standing to do so, and the term standing basically means having the eligibility to do something in a legal context.

Available Damages for Death on the High Seas

Under DOHSA, specific damages can be sought for the death of the worker at issue, and these damages basically mirror the types of damages that can be recovered in a wrongful death action in many other settings. Below is a look at the statutory language that defines the damages issue as well as an explanation:

§ 762. Amount and apportionment of recovery

The recovery in such suit shall be a fair and just compensation for the pecuniary loss sustained by the persons for whose benefit the suit is brought and shall be apportioned among them by the court in proportion to the loss they may severally have suffered by reason of the death of the person by whose representative the suit is brought.

What this means in plain language is that the survivors of the worker who was killed can look to recover the same economic benefit that they would have received had the worker not been killed and had instead finished his or her working career. Specifically, this would tend to indicate that the younger the worker was when he or she was killed, the higher the amount of damages that can be recovered.

Courts will basically look to a basic equation when calculating this amount. A look at the worker's average earnings in recent years coupled with the number of years the worker would have continued with his or her occupation is totaled, along with some form of inflation based on an increased standard of living.

One thing to remember, though, is that damages cannot be recovered in DOHSA lawsuits for loss of consortium, which is basically an intangible form of damages designed to compensate for the loss of companionship, emotional stability and other tenets that cannot generally be quantified.

Statute of Limitations of the Death on the High Seas Act

DOHSA is very specific in terms of the statute of limitations for bringing such an action. The authorized personal representative of the members of the worker's remaining family has up to three years to file the action. This three-year mark begins to run on the date that the worker is killed.

Contributory Negligence of Wrongful Death on the High Seas

As is often the case with personal injury claims, the doctrine of contributory negligence will generally be used in these sorts of lawsuits. Below is the language from DOHSA relevant to this standard:

§ 766. Contributory Negligence

In suits under this chapter the fact that the decedent has been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar recovery, but the court shall take into consideration the degree of negligence attributable to the decedent and reduce the recovery accordingly.

This basically means that if a claim is worth, for instance, $100,000 and the injured worker was 25% responsible for the incident that led to the death, the family of the worker would still recover $75,000 in damages. The judge will 'set off' the worker's contributory negligence before setting the final award.

Death at Sea While Working Claim

If you have lost someone while he or she was working at sea, you have legal rights and options that need to be explored. That process starts by contacting the admiralty lawyers at Phillips Webster to schedule a free initial consultation. Your attorney will be able to help you decide if filing a claim is a sound decision, and you need that information in order to move forward.

Washington Admiralty Attorney - Death on the High Seas

The Death On the High Seas Act, or DOHSA, is designed to help the survivors of a sea worker who is killed to recover damages. There are strict standards in DOHSA regarding which parties can sue, how damages are calculated, how long the statute of limitations runs and contributory negligence issues, so contact the admiralty lawyers at Phillips Webster today to schedule a free initial consultation.
 



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