Duncan Hunter: “This important amendment would help safeguard U.S. courts against crowding of court dockets by foreign maritime…”

“This important amendment would help safeguard U.S. courts against crowding of court dockets by foreign maritime crewmembers. It simply clarifies where the claim must be brought when the case has no meaningful connection to the United States. Specifically, the amendment limits the ability of foreign crewmembers working on foreign ships in foreign waters to sue in U.S. courts when a remedy is available in their home countries or the country of the ship on which they served. If no such remedy is available abroad, the amendment would allow those crewmembers to file suit in the United States, assuming they could meet the same burden needed to file any other suit. To be clear, again, this amendment in no way restricts a foreign crewmember's access to judicial relief if they are injured or suffer some other damage as a result of working on a foreign vessel. It simply says that they need to seek relief in their home country or the home country of the vessel on which they served before seeking relief in U.S. courts. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.”