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Maxim Kocherzhenko
Most collective agreements which cover sea-going vessels and contain the working conditions of seafarers, their social and material guarantees contain the provision stating that the payment of a compensation for the death of a seafarer is made to the beneficiary ( "next of kin"), which is appointed by a seafarer before leaving on a voyage. This is secured by putting the name of the next of kin into the employment contract or into the application form, which is filled by the seafarer in a crewing agency. As a rule, the correct filling of "next of kin" column allows to avoid disputes between the relatives of the deceased seafarer on who is entitled to receive compensation for his death. Also, it brings in the distinctness for the ship owner and his P&I Club to whom they have to make the relevant payment.
Maxim A. Kocherzhenko
According to the Civil Procedural Code of Ukraine a court or a judge can take measures for the security of a claim upon the motion of a person participating in the matter. Security of a claim is allowed at any litigation stage if non-acceptance of measures for the security can cause a difficulty or impossibility in the future execution of the court’s decision. The application for securing the claim shall be considered by the court during two days from the day of its receipt without notification of participants in the case (participants in arbitration proceedings).
Maxim A. Kocherzhenko
The reimbursement of damages for the seamen's injuries and deaths is a rather topical problem both for shipowners and for seamen. This brings us to the necessity to analyze the existing situation from the legal viewpoint.
As the practice goes in case of the seaman's injury or death a one-time compensation is payable where the amounts of compensations are usually set in the employment contracts or collective agreements. But how to estimate the amount of the disability or the death compensation if there is no reference to these payments in the employment contract or a collective agreement? In order to do so we have to look into the active Ukrainian legislation.
