## Facts

- Edward Moragne, a longshoreman, was killed while working aboard the *Palmetto State* in navigable waters within Florida.
- A hatch beam allegedly became disengaged due to a defective locking arrangement, fell, struck Moragne, and caused his death.
- Moragne’s widow, as personal representative, sued the vessel owner, States Marine Lines, seeking recovery for wrongful death and pre-death pain and suffering.
- The claims were pleaded under theories of negligence and unseaworthiness.
- The action was removed to federal district court on diversity grounds; the vessel owner impleaded Moragne’s employer/stevedore, alleging breach of a workmanlike performance obligation.

## Issues

1. Whether general maritime law recognizes a nonstatutory cause of action for wrongful death in state territorial waters for breach of maritime duties, including unseaworthiness.
2. Whether the rule of *The Harrisburg*—that maritime law affords no wrongful-death action absent a statute—should remain controlling.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the judgment affirming dismissal of the unseaworthiness-based wrongful-death claim and remanded.
- The Court held that an action lies under general maritime law for death caused by violation of maritime duties.
- The Court overruled *The Harrisburg* to the extent it denied any general maritime wrongful-death action.
- The Court declined to define, in this decision, the full set of elements, beneficiaries, and damages for the new maritime wrongful-death remedy.

## Legal Principles

- General maritime law supplies a cause of action for wrongful death caused by breach of maritime duties, including unseaworthiness, occurring in state territorial waters.
- The common-law bar on civil recovery for wrongful death is not a sound basis for limiting maritime remedies and does not justify denying a maritime wrongful-death action.
- Federal courts may develop maritime remedies to enforce maritime duties absent a contrary congressional directive.
- Recognition of a maritime wrongful-death remedy serves maritime law’s interest in uniform treatment of maritime obligations and remedies and reduces location-based disparities.

## Conclusion

The Court recognized a general maritime wrongful-death action for deaths in state territorial waters caused by breach of maritime duties and rejected the prior rule barring such claims absent a statute, leaving details of beneficiaries and damages for development on remand and in subsequent cases.


Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., 398 U.S. 375 (1970)