Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v. Townsend

Summary

The Court held that a seaman may pursue punitive damages under general maritime law for an employer's willful or wanton failure to pay maintenance and cure. It reasoned that punitive damages were historically available in maritime actions, that maintenance and cure is a distinct common-law remedy, and that the Jones Act neither eliminated that remedy nor made its damages limitations controlling. Justice Alito, dissenting, would have applied the statutory-uniformity framework and barred punitive damages in this context.