Sponsors (4)
The bill improves legal clarity and predictability for cruise-related maritime personal-injury claims—benefiting passengers and courts—while increasing liability risk and costs for operators newly labeled as 'cruise ships' and leaving passengers on smaller vessels outside the new statutory protections.
Passengers and courts/litigants: clearer statutory definitions (e.g., 'cruise ship' and 'nonpecuniary damages') make it easier to determine when protections or remedies apply and reduce litigation ambiguity in maritime personal-injury cases.
Operators of vessels newly classified as 'cruise ships' (including small-operator businesses) could face increased liability exposure under §30307, raising potential insurance and compliance costs.
Passengers on smaller vessels (those carrying fewer than 250 passengers) may be excluded from the statute's regime and therefore left with different or less favorable remedies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced April 17, 2025 by Donald J. Bacon · Last progress April 17, 2025
Amends the federal maritime statute to add clear definitions for “cruise ship” and “nonpecuniary damages,” updates minor wording in an existing section, and replaces the table entry for that section. The act also establishes a short title and takes effect on enactment. The new definition of “cruise ship” sets objective criteria (250+ passenger capacity, sleeping berths for each passenger, embarks/disembarks passengers in the U.S., and not a coastwise voyage) and excludes U.S. Government and state-owned-and-operated vessels. "Nonpecuniary damages" is defined as loss of care, comfort, and companionship, which clarifies what those damages mean in the statute.