Norwegian suits to Philippines? Cruise line likely to seek transfer (cont.)

MILLIONS AT STAKE

The legal confrontation over the Norway's engine explosion -- still under federal investigation -- is likely to heat up because Norwegian and its parent company, Star Cruises, stand to lose millions of dollars at trial or in settlements if the Filipinos' suits are allowed to stay in Miami.

Veteran Miami attorney William Huggett, who is representing five killed and five injured Filipino seamen, including Valenzuela, predicted that the Miami federal court would keep his suits here.

"[Norwegian] will try every trick in the book, and they're going to lose," Huggett said. The seamen signed their labor agreements with Norwegian through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. The government agency, a branch of the Philippine Department of Labor, is responsible for managing and regulating the country's more than 150,000 workers in the seafaring trades. Because of poverty at home, Filipino seamen covet cruise line jobs.

"The [agency's] overriding mission is to protect our overseas workers," said Henry Bensuro, first secretary and consul at the Philippines Embassy in Washington.

That contention, however, has been disputed in U.S. courts for more than a decade.

Attorneys for seamen argue the Filipino workers often don't understand the employment agreement or realize that the cruise lines pay their dues to a seafarers' union. The lawyers also claim the crew workers are still protected by federal maritime law because the cruise lines operate in major U.S. ports, allowing the seamen to have their day in court in this country.

1999 CASE

In a 1999 Filipino seaman's injury case against Royal Caribbean Cruise lines, Philippines Solicitor General Ricardo P. Galvez supported this argument in an affidavit. "[The Philippines] expressly recognizes the right of the Filipino seafarer to institute suit against his employer or shipowner before the court of foreign countries."

But the cruise lines, including Norwegian, counter that if a crew member is injured or killed, the matter must be decided by labor arbitrators in the Philippines.

In that same Royal Caribbean case, an arbitrator for the Philippine National Labor Relations Commission backed the cruise lines. In an affidavit, Salimathar v. Nambi said his government "has determined that all claims by Filipino seaman working abroad must be filed in the Philippines."

Federal appellate courts in California, New York and Louisiana have allowed seamen's cases to be shipped to the Philippines, saying their job contracts fall under Filipino law.

South Florida federal courts have rejected that argument, primarily because the cruise lines garner much of their profits from Miami-based operations and are therefore subject to federal laws.

But in March, a Miami federal judge, citing a 2002 appellate decision in New Orleans, ordered that a Filipino seaman's injury claim against Carnival Cruise Lines be sent to the Philippines.

U.S. District Judge Paul Huck said the Filipino was bound by the arbitration provision in his employment contract between Carnival and the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration. The seaman is contesting Huck's decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

"If they have the possibility of convincing the court that these cases belong in the Philippines instead of here," said Miami attorney Luis A. Perez, "the savings for Norwegian Cruise Lines would be significant at the expense of the seamen and their families."