Another successful seminar

This year's Bodily Injury Seminar covered a variety of important areas relevant to both US and foreign flag shipowners. Twenty-five Members representing all vessel types, attended the seminar in our Jersey City office to listen to experts talk on: Limitation of Liability, How to Evaluate Pain and Suffering Damages, Crew Mental Health, Medical Case Management, and Medical Repatriation.

An afternoon break-out session tasked the different groups with putting a US$ value on claim scenarios hich the Club has previously handled. This highlighted how difficult it is to estimate bodily injury claims with all the complexity of the US jury system, the various heads of damages (particularly Pain and Suffering) to be taken into account along with consideration of available defenses and the possibility of contributory negligence. From the feedback we received, this once again proved to be a popular and valuable session which we plan to repeat at the seminar in 2017.

Play for Pink

We were delighted to see the maritime community come together at our annual Charity Golf Day in support of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and raise just under US$120,000. Eighty-eight golfers did their best to replicate the form shown by the US Ryder Cup team the previous weekend, with the tournament won by Chaffe McCall from New Orleans, who will return to defend their trophy at next year's event. Many of the speakers and attendees at the BI Seminar also supported the golf outing either by playing or attending the dinner, where we had a total attendance of 130.

MLC Certificates

At the end of November, the Club advised of the application process for MLC Certificates for UK Club Members, which is outlined on the Club's website and Members may apply for MLC Certificates using the application form on our website, on a per vessel or per fleet basis. From 18th January 2017 all merchant ships of 500 gross tons or over flagged to a ratifying state and engaged in international voyages will need to show compliance by carrying a Maritime Labour Certificate and Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance.

2017

We welcome your feedback on the topics we cover in our newsletter, and invite you to suggest future topics, both for the newsletter and for our Annual Bodily Injury Seminar. Contact details for our Bodily Injury Team can be found on the back page of the BI News.

Please mark your diaries for two events next October, firstly, our charity golf outing on Tuesday 3rd October 2017 at Forsgate Country Club, to be followed on Wednesday 4th October by our Bodily Injury Seminar to be held in our office in Jersey City. We hope to improve upon this year's amount of just under US$120,000 raised for Breast Cancer Research, and are planning a special venue for the Bodily Injury dinner following the seminar. Further details to be advised in due course.

Find out more in the latest edition of Bodily Injury News.

Mike Jarrett