Death of seafarer / Labour accident – Legal Opinion – Manolis Eglezos & Associates
A chief engineer was contracted to serve onboard a vessel which called in Asian ports; the engineer got
Asian flu and subsequently died.
His heirs sued for remuneration under the law 551/15, which applies in case of labour accident irrespectively
of existence of fault of the shipowner. The heirs sued also for moral damages, invoking tort
on the side of the master, due to alleged lack of duty of care towards the sick seafarer.
The court found there was a labour accident, ie the death occurred due, or by reason of, the employment,
as a consequence of an extraordinary cause which was irrelevant to the conditions inherent to the
seaman’s profession to which the engineer was anyway exposed. Accordingly the heirs were entitled to
the law 551/15 remuneration.
Further, the court found no breach of duty of care existed to the master; the latter was also found
innocent in the relevant penal procedure. Accordingly, the Court rejected the claim for moral damages,
which is linked to tortious behaviour.
Piraeus Court of Appeal Judgment no 624/2012, President: P. Tsandekidou, Rapporteur Judge: L. Morfis,
Attorneys at law: G. Kontoseas, A. Koutsofios, Maritime Law Review vol. 41, p. 28.
NOTE: Right to law 551/15 can co-exist with right for moral damages in certain cases, although right
of moral damages does not necessarily mean tort remuneration can also apply; the latter presupposes
breach of specific safety regulations. However, breach of general care principles, can give rise to moral
damages, even if it does not give rise to tort remuneration, invariably higher than the law 551/15 one. In
the specific case, no breach of general care principles was detected, therefore there was no corresponding
amount awarded to the heirs.
The legal column was written by Manolis Eglezos, Attorney at law,
Manolis Eglezos & Associates Law Firm, Attorneys at Law and Consultants