Warn

We must decide whether the victims of a maritime accident in foreign waters may state claims under the Jones Act.

I

In the early hours of September 3, 1995, the tender of the yacht M/Y Maridóme (“Maridóme”) struck a metal pipe structure in the harbor of the Port of Poros, Greece, while ferrying passengers and crew from ship to shore. Nicholas Warn, George Sta-thopoulos, Andreas Brigman, and Simon Willshaw were killed in the accident; Richard Brooks was seriously injured. Warn, Willshaw, and Brooks were British crew-members of the Maridóme; Brigman and Stathopoulos were guests with Greek and German dual citizenship. The tender was apparently en route to a disco, and its helmsman allegedly was drunk and sailing at excessive speed.

The Maridóme is a 177-foot luxury yacht that flies the British flag and is owned by Maridóme Marine Limited, a British Channel Islands corporation. The yacht’s ultimate beneficial owner is Enrique Molina, a citizen and domiciliary of Mexico. Peter Lee, a United States citizen and captain of the Mar-idóme from August 1992 until April 1994, provided shoreside management of the Mari-dóme from his Virginia home until August 1995, just days before the…