After hard fought litigation by maritime attorney Dennis M. O’Bryan, the Chief Judge of the Mobile federal district court has ruled that seamen have the right to cancel, invalidate, and repudiate any assignment of wages going to a marine recruiting agency as long as the employer is told before the wages are sent.
MARITIME RECRUITERS CONTRACTS NOT BINDING
The Chief Judge ruled that even if the recruitment agency terms its Paycheck Mailing Agreement as irrevocable, it doesn’t matter. He said it is revocable as long as revoked prior to the money being sent to the maritime recruitment agency. The opinion can be found at Smith v Seaport Marine, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157358 (S.D. Ala.).
Stand by, we are taking it one step further by appealing to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals for a ruling that the whole shebang is void from the get go. The law is that a seaman’s assignment of wages made before the payment of wages is not binding. We are arguing that assignments that contradict the law are void and unenforceable right out of the gate.
The Jones Act lawyers at OBK feel that it is the employer that should pay the recruitment fee, and that it should not be taken off the backs of seamen.
