Lawyer Monthly Magazine - March 2019 Edition

Maritime Law & Injury: The Basics & How It Differs to Accidents on Land Maritime Law, commonly known as the Law of the Sea, is quite different than Land- Based Law. That is particularly true with regard to the State of Maryland. Once an injury occurs on navigable waters the law to be applied is not Land-Based Law, but Federal Maritime Law. The significance of this is important for all practitioners who may represent individuals injured on navigable waters, whether they are on a pleasure boat, on a cruise vessel, someone who is a seaman, or a member of the crew of any vessel on navigable waters. Maryland is one of four states that still adheres to the rule of contributory negligence. That is to say that if a person is one per cent at fault, they cannot recover for their injuries. Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and the District of Columbia are the only jurisdictions in the United States which adhere to that rule. The Maritime Rule is quite different. It is pure comparative negligence. Contributory negligence is not a bar, and if someone were to bring a claim under the Maritime Law and was one per cent at fault, they could still recover 99 per cent of their damages. Additionally, a common defense in Maryland personal injury cases is assumption of risk. That has noapplication under the Maritime Law. Maryland has had a cap, a limit on noneconomic damages, since 1986. There is no cap on non-economic damages under the Admiralty and Maritime Law. That applies to both injury or death. Under Maryland Law, a wage earner who sustains injuries and has lost wages is entitled to gross wages in his/her recovery. Under the Federal Maritime Law, it is net wages, which is basically the deduction of income taxes. The negligence of a fellow servant is not a bar to recovery under the Maritime Law, so if somebody is, for example, working with a Plaintiff aboard a vessel and that person is negligent, the vessel owner is responsible for that fellow servant's negligence. There is a doctrine that is over one hundred years old that applies in the Maritime Law known as Limitation of Liability. A vessel owner can limit his/its liability to the value of the vessel after the casualty as long as the owners are not in privity or knowledge of the dangerous condition giving rise to the injury. This is a unique area of the law which grew up at a time when the Maritime Law was in its infancy to help promote shipbuilding and ship going operations. A person injured on navigable waters can bring a case in both State Court or, if there is Contact Paul D. Bekman bekman@bmaiawfirm.com Bekman, Marder &Adkins, L.l.c. 410-539-6633 | Fax: 410-625-9554 www.bmalawfirm.com 300 West Pratt Street, Suite 450. Baltimore, Maryland 21201 50 SUPER LAWYERS MAR 2019 www. lawyer-monthly .com