Fawcett

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR JURY TRIAL

This motion presents the question of the right to jury trial in a third-party action filed pursuant to Rule 14(c), 1 Fed.R.Civ.P., but not identified as an admiralty claim pursuant to Rule 9(h), 2 Fed.R.Civ.P. Plaintiff Vikki-Marie Fawcett filed the original complaint in the case on December 8, 1976, seeking damages against Pacific Far East Line, Inc. (“PFEL”), for the death of her husband while working as a crewman on board a vessel afloat in navigable waters and owned by PFEL. Jurisdiction was invoked under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688 , and the general maritime law. A jury demand was made. On February 8, 1977, PFEL filed a third-party complaint naming the United States and SIU-PD & PMA Seafarers’ Medical Center (“Seafarers”) as defendants, and stating that the third-party action was brought pursuant to Rule 14(c).

The claim against Seafarers is based on allegations that Seafarers negligently certified plaintiff’s decedent as physically qualified to commence the voyage on which he died, thus breaching its undertaking to provide adequate physical examinations for potential crewmembers on PFEL vessels, and for plaintiff’s decedent in…