Maintenance and Cure: What an Employer Owes an Injured Seaman

Maintenance and cure is one of the oldest obligations in maritime law, older than the Jones Act by centuries. It comes from a simple idea. A seaman who falls sick or is hurt in the service of the ship, far from home and family, should not be left on the dock with nothing.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice.

What it covers

Maintenance is a daily payment meant to cover basic living expenses, roughly the food and lodging the seaman would have had aboard.

Cure covers reasonable medical care: doctors, hospitals, medication, and therapy related to the illness or injury.

Seamen are also generally entitled to unearned wages through the end of the voyage or the period they were hired for.

Fault does not matter

The employer owes maintenance and cure regardless of who caused the injury. The seaman does not have to prove negligence or unseaworthiness. He only has to show he became sick or injured while in the service of the vessel. There are narrow defenses, such as willful misconduct, or deliberately hiding a prior medical condition that the employer asked about when hiring him.

When it ends

The obligation generally runs until the seaman reaches maximum medical improvement, the point where further treatment will not improve his condition. Disputes about when that point arrives are common, and they usually turn on medical evidence.

When nonpayment gets expensive

In Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend (2009), the Supreme Court held that a seaman may recover punitive damages when an employer willfully fails to pay maintenance and cure. An employer that cuts off benefits without a reasonable basis, ignores medical reports, or drags its feet can turn a routine claim into a much bigger one. Attorneys' fees can also come into play.

Where operations meet the paperwork

Most maintenance and cure disputes are medical and financial, which is outside my field. But vessel-side facts sometimes matter:

• Whether the injury happened in the service of the vessel
• What the crew reported at the time, and when
• Whether the vessel's injury reporting and medical response followed company procedures
• Whether the employer's own records support the timeline it relies on

A company with a clean reporting trail and a prompt medical response is in a far better position than one whose first record of the injury is a letter from the seaman's lawyer.

The practical lesson for operators

Take injuries seriously from the first minute. Report them. Get the man proper care. Keep the paperwork straight. It is the decent thing to do, it is what the law expects, and it is usually the cheaper path.

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About the author

Captain Mitchell S. Stoller is a Master Mariner Unlimited, former Exxon tanker master, and former Los Angeles Harbor pilot. About Captain Stoller