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How Secure is Your License?If you're lucky, you'll never be involved in an accident or legal incident that puts your license at risk. But it happens to hundreds of mariners every year“and the new rules make it easier for Uncle Sam to take your license away. This year, the Coast Guard adopted new procedures for suspension and revocation of licenses. In the past there were two separate sets of rules. In the Code of Federal Regulations, 46 CFR Part 5 contained the rules for suspension and revocation. These rules were based on criminal procedure. But 33 CFR Part 20 contains the rules for class II civil penalties. Those rules were based on civil procedure. What's the difference? Pretend you're O.J. Simpson. In criminal court, it's up to the prosecutor to prove you're guilty. But in civil court, you have to prove you're innocent. Unless you can afford a good lawyer, you'd better get out your checkbook. Well, the Coast Guard says forget that annoying "innocent until proven guilty" stuff. They're by-passing 46 CFR and putting everything under 33 CFR. Now you can lose your license, permanently, and the Coast Guard doesn't have to prove a thing. Under the new rules, a Coast Guard investigating officer will file a complaint identifying the order of suspension or revocation. You're required to answer in writing within twenty days. If you fail to answer, the Coast Guard may seek a default judgment. In other words, you could be automatically guilty. Of course if you're working a 20- or 30-day hitch, that deadline could pass before you even know about it. The National Association of Maritime Educators (NAME) calls this "one of the most significant problems that face merchant mariners today." What to do? Unless you're in a union that provides legal services, you might want to look into license insurance. Here's what NAME has to say: A mariner may believe that his employer will defend him against all that occurs on the job.... While in many cases the individual mariner and his employer may have common interests, this is not always the case. In some cases, by working a mariner beyond the legal limits... or under adverse or unsafe conditions, an employer may even be partly to blame for an accident or an environmental catastrophe.... Even in cases where an employer helps a mariner earn his license by sending him to school, it is ultimately the mariner's personal responsibility to defend both his conduct and his license. Why did the Coast Guard make these rule changes? To "eliminate unnecessary procedures" and to use their resources "more efficiently." That's nice to know. We certainly don't want to waste the taxpayers' money on "unnecessary" things like Constitutional rights. If they get any more efficient, soon they'll just hop on board and tear up your license. You'll be delivering pizzas that night. You thought the L.A. criminal justice system was bad? If the Coast Guard had been in charge there, O.J. would have been tried by Judge Judy. |
 Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain Anyone who knows the Mississippi River will get a kick out of this. Part history, part riverman's tall tales. An American classic. > More info > Other books available from 
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