Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) has introduced an amendment to the Death on the High Seas Act ("DOHSA") to permit families to recover reasonable compensation when a loved one dies in international waters.

DOHSA Is Unfair to Passengers

As matters now stand, a cruise line is the only place in the world where a child or a retired passenger’s life is of absolutely no consequence in the eyes of the law. We have written about this in the past.  Our last blog is entitled " The Death on the High Seas Act – Screwing American Passengers for 89 Years."

DOHSA is an ancient law and needs to be changed.

CLIA Loves DOHSA 

The Cruise Line International Association ("CLIA") is trying to kill the amendment.  CLIA has dispatched a small army of lawyers and lobbyists to Congress to kill the amendment.  CLIA doesn’t explain to its 13,000,000 cruise customers or 16,000 travel agents that cruise passengers have few rights when they die during a cruise.  CLIA is working hard behind the scenes to make certain that the amendment does not come up for a vote tomorrow.

If CLIA kills the DOHSA amendment, the multi-billion dollar, non-tax paying cruise lines and their rich insurance companies will be very, very happy.