USA Law and Practice Contributed by: Seward & Kissel LLP, Seward & Kissel LLP
5. Passenger Claims 5.1 Laws and Conventions Applicable to the Resolution of Passenger Claims The United States is not a party to the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passen - gers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974. As such, passenger claims in the United States that involve personal injury or death will be governed by applicable contracts of carriage and the gen - eral maritime law of the United States. Although a ship-owner may not limit its liability for neg - ligence to passengers under the Limitation Act, that act may provide limitation in respect of cargo loss, personal injury or death incurred “without the privity or knowledge of the owner”. Unless modified by contract, the default limi - tations period for a claim of personal injury or death arising from a maritime tort is three years. Other statutes also limit the scope of contrac - tually modified limitations periods that may be agreed with respect to passenger claims. Con - tractual periods may be no less than one year to file suit running from the date of injury or death, and no less than six months to provide notice of, or file a claim for, personal injury or death, sub - ject to tolling rules for claims involving a minor or mental incompetent or in the event of wrongful death, until the earlier of: • the date that a legal representative is appoint - ed; or • three years after the injury or death. If a contract requires the claimant to provide notice of a claim, failure to provide notice may permit a defence to liability unless there is a find - ing that:
• the carrier knew of the injury or death and the vessel was not prejudiced by the failure; • there was a satisfactory reason why notice could not have been given; or • the owner failed to object to the failure to give notice. Indemnities for personal injury passenger claims may also be considered as maritime claims or liens to the extent that they are ripe and suffi - ciently related to the underlying maritime claim. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 14(c), for example, when a plaintiff asserts an admiralty or maritime claim, a defendant (as third-party plain - tiff) is entitled to implead a third-party defendant “who may be wholly or partly liable” for “remedy over, contribution or otherwise on account of the same transaction, occurrence or series of trans - actions or occurrences”. 6. Enforcement of Law and Jurisdiction and Arbitration Clauses 6.1 Enforcement of Law and Jurisdiction Clauses Stated in Bills of Lading Contracts for carriage of goods by sea must be construed in the same way as any other contracts: by their terms and consistent with the intent of the parties. As such, where par - ties clearly specify in their contractual agree - ment which law will apply, admiralty courts will generally give effect to that choice. The COGSA applies “tackle to tackle” by force of law, but the period it covers (eg, pre-loading and post-dis - charge or carriage between two non-US ports) may frequently be extended by clauses in bills of lading. As a matter of contract interpretation, federal courts sitting in admiralty seek to interpret a con -
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