Arbitration Clauses in Seafarers' Employment Contracts in the Fifth Circuit

• Author: Martin Davies
• Position: Admiralty Law Institute Professor of Maritime Law, Tulane University Law School; Director, Tulane Maritime Law Center
• Pages: 402-420

Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review

Volume 80

Number 2

Winter 2020

Article 11

4-22-2020

Arbitration Clauses in Seafarers' Employment Contracts in the Arbitration Clauses in Seafarers' Employment Contracts in the

Fifth Circuit Fifth Circuit

Martin Davies

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Repository Citation Repository Citation

Martin Davies,

Arbitration Clauses in Seafarers' Employment Contracts in the Fifth Circuit

, 80 La. L. Rev.

(2020)

Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss2/11

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Arbitration Clauses in Seafarers’ Employment

Contracts in the Fifth Circuit

Martin Davies*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .................................................................................. 403

I. A or (B if C)? Or (A if C) or (B if C)? ......................................... 406

II. Yang v. Majestic Blue Fisheries, LLC.......................................... 409

III. Binding Non-Signatories to Arbitration Agreements................... 411

IV. What Is a District Court in the Fifth Circuit to Do?..................... 415

V. Borrowed Servants, Crewing Agencies,

and Guest Workers....................................................................... 416

Conclusion.................................................................................... 418

INTRODUCTION

It is well-established that arbitration clauses in seafarers’ employment

contracts are enforceable if the seafarer is not a U.S. citizen. This rule

stands even if the foreign seafarer’s claims might be governed by the Jones

Act1 or general maritime law about unseaworthiness or maintenance and

cure, or if there is some doubt over whether the arbitral tribunal will apply

U.S. law to the seafarer’s claims.2 The same is true of arbitration clauses

Copyright 2020, by MARTIN DAVIES.

* Admiralty Law Institute Professor of Maritime Law, Tulane University

Law School; Director, Tulane Maritime Law Center. This Essay is based on a

presentation given by the auth**or at the 16th Judge Alvin B. Rubin Conference

on Maritime Personal Injury Law at the LSU Law Center on April 13, 2018.

1. 46 U.S.C. § 30104 (2012).

2. Francisco v. Stolt Achievement MT, 293 F.3d 270 (5th Cir. 2002)

(Filipino seaman); Lim v. Offshore Specialty Fabricators, Inc., 404 F.3d 898 (5th

Cir. 2005) (Filipino seamen, claim under Fair Labor Standards Act); Bautista v.

Star Cruises, 396 F.3d 1289 (11th Cir. 2005) (Filipino seamen); Balen v. Holland

Am. Line, Inc., 583 F.3d 647 (9th Cir. 2009) (Filipino seaman, Seamen’s Wage

Act claim); Razo v. Nordic Empress Shipping Ltd., 362 F. App’x 243 (3d Cir.