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(USGovernment-News.Com, July 17, 2012 ) Boston, Massachusetts – Maritime attorney Carolyn Latti urges legislators to broaden the scope of the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) to make it less cold to the families of those who die at sea. DOHSA is legislation that defines the damages that family members can receive when a loved one dies at sea as a result of another’s negligence.
DOHSA pertains to lawsuits filed by the family of a person who died in an accident more than three nautical miles from shore, and only a victim’s spouse, parent, child or dependant may receive damages under the Act as it stands. These damages are limited to pecuniary losses, which are ones that can be calculated in financial terms, such as loss of support and funeral expenses. DOHSA therefore excludes damages for decedent’s pain and suffering and the family’s psychological and emotional trauma and loss resulting from a loved one’s death. DOHSA provisions mean that families may be provided with less financial recovery than they would have been had their family member survived or died on land.
“This law provides little to people who lose loved ones at sea,” said Latti. “Families who have endured such a terrible loss should not be faced with lesser damages simply because the accident occurred on the water. The loss of a human life should be worth the same on land and water. We need to expand this legislation to make it easier for families to move forward after such a trauma, not harder.”
Carolyn Latti is an attorney and partner with the law firm of Latti & Anderson LLP. She represents seamen, dock workers, maritime employees, and boat and ship passengers who have been injured on land and on the water in fishing accidents, shipyard accidents, ferry accidents and recreational boating accidents. Latti was named one of Massachusetts Lawyers’ Top 10 Lawyers of the Year and was raised on the New England shore. She is a member of the American Association for Justice, Chair Elect of the Admiralty Section and the Maritime Law Association, and she was recognized by SuperLawyer as a Massachusetts Rising Star in 2009.
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