Salazar v. American Export Lines

In Salazar v. American Export Lines, 114 NYS2d 370 [NY City Mun Ct 1952], a seaman, who was alleged to have become ill or injured during his period of service on a vessel, brought three separate small Claims actions against the shipowner seeking to enforce his implied contractual entitlement to "maintenance and cure." Each of the actions sought to recover maintenance and cure for separate periods of 12 days each, so that each action's total would fall just within the then-monetary limit of the Small Claims Part. The defendant moved to consolidate the actions and transfer them to a regular part of the court, asserting that the plaintiff had actually split a single cause of action. Holding that each day's claim represented a separate cause of action, the court denied the defendant's motion.