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Editor: Rod Sullivan
Profession: Maritime Attorney

Category: Unseaworthiness and The Jones Act

Very few attorneys will accept maintenance and cure cases these days because many circuits (the 5th covering Louisianna and Texas being the prime example) no longer permit punitive damages. However, attorneys may be overlooking the prospect of receiving two to even three times their hourly rate if they prevail in and M & C case.

In the 11th Circuit (Florida, Georgia and Alabama), a rate of twice the lodestar (customary rate for attorneys fees multiplied by number of hours) has been approved in Social Security cases. Frazier v. Sullivan, 768 F.Supp. 1511 (M.D. Ala. 1991). A fee multiplier has been approvingly spoken of in Kay v. Apfel, 176 F.3d 1322 (11th Cir. 1999), and even recommended by the court in Norman v. Housing Authority of City of Montgomery, 836 F.2d. 1292, 1303 (11th Cir. 1988).