Arla Bodden v. American Offshore, Inc., American Operators, Inc., and Zodiac Workboats, S. A.

JOHN R. BROWN, Circuit Judge:

This case presents for our decision a narrow question of first impression, one for whose answer we must gingerly navigate through the channel left by the Moragne-Gaudet-Higginbotham triumvirate of recent Supreme Court pronouncements on the admiralty. Does the surviving spouse of a seaman have a cause of action for wrongful death based on unseaworthiness pursuant to the Death on the High Seas Act where the decedent prior to his death settled his claim for the injuries? In answering this seemingly simple question, we consult — at some length — the recent decisions…