46 U.S.C. § 30103
Section 30103 · Liability of master, mate, engineer, and pilot
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 1 court decisions — leading case Ramirez v. NCL (Bahamas), Ltd. (2013)
Most recently applied in Ramirez v. NCL (Bahamas), Ltd. (October 2013)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
A person may bring a civil action against a master, mate, engineer, or pilot of a vessel, and recover damages, for personal injury or loss caused by the master's, mate's, engineer's, or pilot's—
(1) negligence or willful misconduct; or
(2) neglect or refusal to obey the laws governing the navigation of vessels.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 30103 46 App.:491 (words after semicolon). R.S. §4493 (words after semicolon). Before paragraph (1), the words “bring a civil action” are substituted for “sue” for consistency with rule 2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (28 App. U.S.C.). In paragraph (1), the word “carelessness” is omitted as included in “negligence”.