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Stanton v. Bayliner Marine Corp.12/30/1993
858, 864, 90 L. Ed. 2d 865, 106 S. Ct. 2295 (1986), Bayliner argues that "with admiralty jurisdiction comes the application of substantive admiralty law." Bayliner contends that the application of substantive admiralty law in this case means that no products liability claim lies in admiralty when the only injury claimed is economic loss. Stanton, on the other hand, argues that state law is not preempted if it does not interfere with the uniform system of federal maritime law. Stanton claims that Washington law "supplements" the remedies available in admiralty.
Article 3, section 2 of the United States Constitution provides in part that the judicial power of the United States shall extend "to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction". This provision, by implication, grants Congress the power to revise and supplement the maritime law, and grants federal courts power to develop the general maritime law. Pacific Merchant Shipping Ass'n v. Aubry, 918 F.2d 1409, 1421 (9th Cir. 1990) (citing Romero v. International Terminal Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354, 360-61, 3 L. Ed. 2d 368, 79 S. Ct. 468 (1959)), cert. denied, 119 L. Ed. 2d 578 (1992). State courts, however, have concurrent jurisdiction over maritime claims. Offshore Logistics, Inc. v. Tallentire, 477 U.S. 207, 222, 91 L. Ed. 2d 174, 106 S. Ct. 2485 (1986).
The process of determining the applicability of state law in cases within the admiralty jurisdiction has been described as one of accommodation, "entirely familiar in many areas of overlapping state and federal concern, or a process somewhat analogous to the normal conflict of laws situation where two sovereignties assert divergent interests in a transaction as to which both have some concern." Kossick, 365 U.S. at 739 (citing with approval the application of state wrongful death statutes, The Tungus v. Skovgaard, 358 U.S. 588, 3 L. Ed. 2d 524, 79 S. Ct. 503 (1959); The Hamilton, 207 U.S. 398, 52 L. Ed. 264, 28 S. Ct. 133 (1907); and state survival of actions statutes, Just v. Chambers, 312 U.S. 383, 85 L. Ed. 903, 61 S. Ct. 687 (1941)).
Relying on Kossick, the Court of Appeals stated that even though a cause of action arises under admiralty jurisdiction, state law may "displace" federal law when a matter of local concern is at stake and the application of state law would not disturb the uniformity of maritime law. Bayliner, 68 Wash. App. at 131-32. Although Kossick endorsed the notion of balancing local concerns against federal interests in some circumstances, it does not stand for the proposition that state law may displace conflicting federal law. See Kossick, 365 U.S. at 742.
The federal statute conferring admiralty jurisdiction on federal district courts "saves to suitors in all cases all other remedies to which they are otherwise entitled." 28 U.S.C. ยง 1333(1). The Supreme Court has said that this statute
leaves state courts competent to adjudicate maritime causes of action in proceedings in personam and means that "a state, 'having concurrent jurisdiction, is free to adopt such remedies, and to attach to them such incidents, as it sees fit,' so long as it does not attempt to [give in rem remedies or] make changes in the 'substantive maritime law.'" Stated another way, the "saving to suitors" clause allows state courts to entertain in personam maritime causes of action, but in such cases the extent to which state law may be used to remedy maritime injuries is constrained by a so-called "reverse -Erie" doctrine which requires that the substantive remedies afforded by the States conform to governing federal maritime standards.
(Citation omitted. Some italics ours.) Offshore Logistics, Inc. v. Talle
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