## Facts

- Richard Messier worked as a tugboat seaman for Bouchard Transportation Co., Inc.
- In 2005, Messier served multiple multi-week hitches aboard Bouchard’s tug *Evening Mist*.
- On October 23, 2005, Messier allegedly fell on the vessel and sought treatment for back pain diagnosed as a probable sprain; the back pain subsided.
- Blood tests taken during treatment showed sharply rising creatinine levels, and Messier was hospitalized for renal failure on November 4, 2005.
- Follow-up testing identified lymphoma.
- The parties did not dispute that Messier’s lymphoma existed while he was in Bouchard’s service, but it was asymptomatic and undiscovered until after his service ended.
- Messier sought maintenance and cure for the lymphoma.

## Issues

1. Whether a seaman may recover maintenance and cure for an illness that existed during service but did not manifest symptoms or receive a diagnosis until after the seaman left the vessel.
2. Whether “manifestation” during service is a prerequisite to maintenance and cure.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment for Bouchard and remanded.
- The court held that manifestation during service is not required; the relevant question is whether the illness occurred (began, existed, or was aggravated) while the seaman was in the service of the ship.
- Because it was undisputed that lymphoma existed during Messier’s service, the court directed the district court to enter partial summary judgment for Messier on liability for maintenance and cure, leaving amount and duration for further proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- A vessel owner must provide maintenance and cure to a seaman who becomes ill or injured while in the service of the ship.
- Maintenance and cure is not fault-based and is construed broadly in favor of seamen due to its humanitarian function.
- For maintenance-and-cure purposes, an illness “occurs” when it actually begins, exists, is contracted, or is aggravated during service; symptom onset or diagnosis timing is not controlling.
- A latent or asymptomatic condition can satisfy the “in the service of the ship” requirement if the condition existed and developed during the period of service.

## Conclusion

The court held that a seaman’s entitlement to maintenance and cure turns on whether the illness existed or began during service, not on whether symptoms appeared or a diagnosis was made before the seaman left the vessel, and it ordered partial summary judgment for the seaman on liability where the illness’s existence during service was undisputed.


Messier v. Bouchard Transp. Co., 688 F.3d 78 (2d Cir. 2012)