## Facts

- Margaret O’Shea, a 57-year-old cook working on a Mississippi River towboat, was transported to shore on a harbor boat operated by Riverway Towing Company.
- The harbor boat tied up to a seawall whose top was several feet above the boat’s deck, and no ladder was provided.
- Other seamen passengers climbed the seawall, but O’Shea could not.
- A deckhand instructed O’Shea to climb stairs to a catwalk and disembark from there; the catwalk was about three feet above the top of the seawall and still lacked a ladder.
- The deckhand then instructed O’Shea to jump and told her that men already ashore would help her land safely.
- O’Shea jumped, fell on landing while being assisted, and broke her leg.
- The injury ended her ability to work as a boat cook; her prior earnings were modest.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court clearly erred in finding O’Shea was not contributorily negligent when she jumped at the deckhand’s direction.
2. Whether damages for lost future earnings may account for inflation and, if so, whether projecting inflation and discounting to present value is a permissible method.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the finding that O’Shea was not contributorily negligent.
- The court held it is appropriate to consider inflation in calculating lost future wages.
- The court upheld the trial court’s approach of projecting future wages with an inflation assumption and discounting the projected stream to present value.
- The damages award, including future wage loss, was affirmed.

## Legal Principles

- Appellate review of a bench-trial finding on contributory negligence is for clear error; credibility-based factual findings are given substantial deference.
- A passenger who follows a crew member’s disembarkation instructions, when no safe alternative is apparent, may reasonably rely on the crew’s superior knowledge and is not necessarily contributorily negligent.
- Damages for lost future earnings may include an inflation component, provided the award is reduced to present value.
- Prior low earnings do not cap an award for future wage loss; the measure is the plaintiff’s probable future earnings but for the injury.
- Trial courts may use different acceptable methods to integrate inflation and discounting (e.g., a real interest rate approach or a nominal rate approach with an implied inflation component).
- An appellate court will not reverse a future-wage award based on debatable economic assumptions unless the result is unreasonable on the record presented.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed liability and damages, holding that O’Shea reasonably followed crew instructions under unsafe disembarkation conditions and that future wage-loss awards may account for inflation so long as the projected earnings stream is discounted to present value and the overall result is not unreasonable.


O’Shea v. Riverway Towing Co., 677 F.2d 1194 (7th Cir. 1982)