In 2009, in Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v. Townsend,
the Supreme Court "sea tossed" the law of maritime
damages when it held that punitive damages are recoverable for an
employer's willful and wanton failure to provide a seaman with
maintenance and cure benefits.1 557 U.S. 404, 407-08 (2009). By
doing so, Townsend put an end to almost twenty years of
near certainty that punitive damages were not available in
maintenance and cure claims. To some, Townsend also
signaled a shift away from the "uniformity principle"
approach to maritime damages as set forth in Miles v. Apex
Marine, 498 U.S. 19 (1990).
Generally stated, the Miles uniformity principle holds
that if a category of damages is unavailable under a maritime cause
of action established by statute, it is similarly unavailable for a
parallel claim brought under general maritime law. Because the
Jones Act prohibits non-pecuniary damages, and punitive damages are
considered non-pecuniary, the Miles uniformity
