Page 19: of Marine News Magazine (July 2011)

www.marinelink.com MN19expenses necessary for the provision of habitable housing, including utili-ty costs. A seaman need not present evidence of the reasonable rate; a court can take judicial notice? of the prevailing rate in the region. After calculating the seamans actual costs and the reasonable costs in the region, the court then compares the two. If actual costs exceed reasonable costs, the court awards reasonable costs. Otherwise, it awards actual costs. In the Borders case, the seaman tes- tified he paid $1,200 per month to athird party for food and lodging for a few months, and also proffered an affidavit stating that after he moved into a mobile home, he paid$1,200/month for food and lodging,plus $400 to $500/month for utili-ties, for total food and lodgingexpenses of up to $1,700/month or$56.66/day pro-rated for a 30-day month.The seamans employer challenged the seamans claimed expenses, argu- ing that because the seaman had notproduced invoices or receipts for elec- tric, water, gas, or food, he should not be believed. The judge was not swayed by this argument. He noted the seamans burden of producing evi- dence of expenses is feather light,? and that applicable law entitled himto award reasonable expenses, even if the seaman fails to conclusively prove the precise amount of his actual expenses. Judge Africk also found that [i]f a seaman would incur the lodg-ing expenses of the home even if liv- ing alone, then the entire lodging expense represents the seamans actual expenses.?The Court discussed how the employers own evidence in this case showed it should be paying $330/month for food, $375/monthfor lodging, and on average $400/month for utilities, or$1,105/month or about $37/day over a 30-day month. Considering the sea-mans actual expenses and recent awards by courts in the region in the $30-40/day range, the Court found