Article by Ed Bluestein Jr.
The subject of maritime damages covers a vast area containing innumerable points of interest. An in-depth visit to each of these points would require a journey that is far beyond the scope of this presentation. Restricting this discussion to maritime products liability damages is not an appreciable limitation because a comprehensive treatment of this seemingly more narrow subject would require a visit to most points of interest in the overall area of maritime damages. The subject of maritime products liability damages is more akin to an entire layer over the general area of damages than a separate region.
A whirlwind tour of every point of interest would require an overly ambitious itinerary. While a broad overview of the general area of maritime products liability damages will be undertaken, a detailed examination will be reserved for those points that are of current interest to courts and commentators and that are peculiar to products liability cases.
There is no separate set of maritime damage rules that come into play when the cause of injury or loss is a defective product. If the products liability aspect of an admiralty lawsuit does not determine the damages recoverable, then what does? It is quite simply the source of the remedy. For example, a maritime personal injury or wrongful death action predicated on a products liability theory might be brought under any one of several federal statutes, the general maritime law, or state law.
Because the determining factor for recoverable damages is the source of the remedy, and because maritime products liability, particularly the theory known as strict liability in tort, is in its infancy, many cases will be cited that do not involve products. Such cases, however, are instructive as to what damages will apply when products are involved.
About the Author
Ed Bluestein Jr. Member of the Texas Bar; Partner, Fulbright & Jaworski; J.D. 1958, University of Texas.
Citation
62 Tul. L. Rev. 511 (1988)