This admiralty case involves the calculation of maintenance. Plaintiffs James Hall and Charles Byron Stuart are seamen employed by defendant Noble Drilling (U.S.) Inc. ("Noble") who were injured during their employment on offshore rigs. The district court awarded maintenance of $30.50 to Stuart and $31.50 to Hall, based in part on the costs of their shelter, homes that they share with their families.

Noble argues that maintenance is provided solely for the benefit of the seaman, and thus the maintenance rate should be have been reduced to reflect only the seaman's pro rata portion of the mortgage on the family home. We agree with Noble's premise that maintenance is provided solely for the benefit of the seaman, but we reject Noble's conclusion. In this case, the plaintiffs actually paid their entire mortgages; they were obligated to pay their entire mortgages; and their food and lodging expenses were reasonable. We affirm the ruling of the district court.

* Plaintiffs Charles Byron Stuart and James Hall are both seamen employed by Noble Drilling (U.S.) Inc. Stuart lives in Petal, Mississippi, with his wife and two young children. Hall lives in Columbia, Mississippi, with his wife and adult son. Both live in houses for which they pay mortgages.

Stuart was injured on October 3 or 4, 1998, while aboard the Noble jack-up rig EDDIE PAUL. Hall was injured on February 7, 1999, while aboard the Noble jack-up rig M/V BILL JENNINGS. Noble has paid them each $21 a day in maintenance.

Stuart and Hall brought suit in admiralty against Noble in May and June, 1999, respectively. They made claims under the Jones Act and the doctrines of unseaworthiness and maintenance and cure. Hall and Stuart each sought an increase in their rate of maintenance. The cases were consolidated, and trial on the issue of the proper maintenance rates was held.

At trial, Stuart and Hall presented itemized lists of their expenses, which included housing and food, telephone, satellite TV, automobile, and other expenses. They also presented an expert witness who described their expenses and provided national and regional estimates of the cost of food and lodging. The food and lodging estimates based on national statistics varied from $27.85 to $49.23 for a single person.1 Noble presented evidence of the costs of various forms of lodging in the area and their own expert witness, who concluded that $13.17 to $18.52 per day would provide adequate maintenance.

Stuart claimed entitlement to $45.93 per day based on an itemized list of his expenses. Of this figure, he claimed $14.24 for mortgage, escrow, and real estate insurance; $5.43 for utilities; $9.47 for food;2 and $16.78 in telephone, cable TV, house maintenance, and automobile expenses.3

Hall claimed entitlement to $51.45 per day based on a similar list of expenses. He claimed $20.27 for mortgage, escrow, and real estate insurance; $6.41 for utilities; $10.39 for food;4 $11.09 in telephone, satellite TV, house maintenance, and automobile expenses; and $3.29 for the prorated cost of some dental work.

The trial judge noted that maintenance does not provide for expenses such as telephone or automobile bills or the costs of supporting children. The judge then awarded Stuart a maintenance rate of $30.50 per day and awarded Hall a maintenance rate of $31.50 per day. Noble appealed.5 On appeal, Noble challenges the amount of the maintenance awards.6 Noble's primary argument is that since Hall and Stuart live with their families, their lodging expenses should be divided among the members of the household; the maintenance awards, then, should only reflect Stuart's and Hall's pro rata share of food and lodging expenses.

Maintenance and its counterpart, cure, have a venerable history in the jurisprudence of admiralty,7 with origins at the beginning of the last millennium.8 In the last century, American courts have developed and expanded the right to maintenance and cure, adapting it to the changing duties of seamen in modern commerce. While centuries ago the typical seaman was a single man--perhaps without a home--who spent most of his life at sea, today the typical seaman may be someone very much like the plaintiffs in this case: a worker on a floating rig who has a home and family and spends significant stretches of time onshore.

This juxtaposition of the ancient right of maintenance, protecting the "poor and friendless" seaman,9 with the cases of modern seamen with families and mortgages is at the heart of this case. Courts have long held that in providing maintenance the ship owner must "furnish the seaman with food and lodging of the kind and quality he would have received . . . aboard [the] ship."10 Yet in this appeal the parties focus their attention on Stuart's and Hall's housing costs and the number of people in their families. We examine the historical source of this incongruity and then turn to the facts of this case.

* 1

The maritime doctrine of maintenance entitles a seaman injured in the service of his ship to "food and lodging of the kind and quality he would have received . . . aboard [the] ship."11 This articulation of the standard for the amount of maintenance originated from the obligation of the shipowner to provide room and board to seamen during the voyage.12 This equivalence between food and lodging onshore and room and board during the voyage was natural, given that American courts originally held that the shipowner's obligation to provide maintenance extended only to the end of the voyage.13

The logical foundation for this formulation has eroded, however. By the turn of the last century, American courts had embraced the rule that maintenance extends beyond the end of the seaman's voyage to the time of maximum cure.14 And in more recent years courts have awarded maintenance and cure to seamen who have no room or board on their vessels.15 Nonetheless, the notion that the shipowner must provide the seaman with the equivalent of his food and lodging on the ship remains the touchstone for calculating maintenance.

The expansion in the last century of the scope of maintenance has complicated the calculation of the appropriate rate of maintenance. Most obviously, seamen with no food or lodging on board their vessels cannot compare their shoreside accommodations with quarters that don't exist. But the determination of maintenance is also complicated by the fact that little, if any, lodging on land is truly equivalent to quarters on a vessel; that, as in this case, some seamen have existing accommodations on land; and that, as a practical matter, seamen have historically lacked the resources to present detailed proof in suits for maintenance and cure.16

Understanding these practical and conceptual difficulties, courts have not required literal equivalence of facilities onshore and in the vessel. Instead, the reference to a seaman's shipboard food and lodging serves to define the amount of maintenance as no more and no less than the reasonable costs of subsistence the seaman has incurred while recuperating on land.17 This breaks down into two components: the reasonable cost of food and lodging for a seaman living alone, and the actual expenses for food and lodging that the seaman has incurred. We address courts' treatment of these components of the maintenance calculation in turn.

A seaman is entitled to the reasonable cost of food and lodging, provided he has incurred the expense. Proving reasonable costs admits of many forms of proof. Courts allow proof of the seaman's actual expenditures and expert testimony about the cost of living in the area of the seaman's residence.18 Courts also allow evidence of maintenance rates negotiated by unions,19 per diem allowances for seamen in port when the vessel's facilities are unavailable,20 and, of course, the cost of food and lodging equivalent to food and lodging on the vessel, if such exist on land. The use of evidence of actual expenses should not obscure the fact that this evidence is offered to prove not only actual, but also reasonable expenses. Thus, maintenance awards should depend on the reasonable cost of food and lodging for a seaman living alone in the seaman's locality.21

Since the reasonable cost of food and lodging for a single seaman in an area is an objective standard, "the rate at which maintenance is paid tends to become standardized to reflect the costs of food and lodging in a particular area."22 The historical tendency towards uniform rates of maintenance has simplified the litigation over the reasonable amount of maintenance to the benefit of both shipowner and seaman. Standard rates of maintenance protect the seaman's interest in recovering maintenance without great delay or expense and without disparities between seamen; and it protects the shipowner's interest in predictable obligations and reduced litigation. Uniform rates also reduce the decision costs of courts and the impact of maintenance litigation on the docket.

We have consistently held that "one who has not paid his own expenses . . . cannot recover maintenance and cure from the ship owner."23 Courts have treated maintenance not as a payment owed from shipowner to seaman, but as an obligation of the shipowner to ensure that the seaman can afford food and lodging. Thus, the shipowner is obligated to pay the seaman no more than the seaman actually spends to obtain reasonable food and lodging.24 If the seaman's food and lodging are both reasonable in quality and free, he is entitled to no maintenance from the shipowner.

However, if the seaman's actual expenses are not sufficient to afford him food and lodging that are reasonably adequate, the court should award maintenance sufficient to provide reasonable food and lodging, even if the award exceeds the seaman's actual costs.25 Also, when the seaman has made "an expressed intention" to pay for lodging and food, even if the obligation is not legally enforceable, the seaman may recover maintenance.26 The burden of producing evidence of expenses is "feather light," and a court may award reasonable expenses, even if the precise amount of actual expenses is not conclusively proved.27

More recently, shipowners have argued that a seaman's food and lodging expenses should be prorated when a seaman lives with his family. Since maintenance provides only for the expenses of the seaman, the expenses of the seaman's spouse or children are not properly included in maintenance. Thus, a seaman may only present evidence of expenditures on food eaten by himself. If division of family food expenses is difficult, prorating the costs is an appropriate method of estimation.28

Lodging costs present a more difficult question that has not been addressed by this circuit. In this appeal, Noble argues that since three or four people living together can live more cheaply than three or four people each living alone, maintenance should cover only a seaman's pro rata share of his lodging expenses when he lives with his family. This argument misunderstands maintenance.

A seaman is entitled to the reasonable cost of food and lodging in his locality, provided that he must actually spend that amount on his upkeep. If the seaman spend less than that amount, the seaman may recover his actual expenses. A seaman who pays for the rent or mortgage of a home he shares with his family actually spends out-of-pocket the entire amount.29 He cannot pay any less without losing his home.30 If a seaman would incur the lodging expenses of the home even if living alone, then the entire lodging expense will represent the seaman's actual expenses.31

Thus, the non-prorated amount a seaman spends on his home is his actual cost of lodging. Noble is obviously correct that a house for two or four or ten may be much more than the seaman needs for himself alone, and the mortgage for such a house will surely cost more than he needs to spend. But this argument concerns whether the seaman's expenses are reasonable, not whether the seaman actually spent that money on his home. If the seaman's expenditures exceed the reasonable amount, the seaman is entitled only to the reasonable amount that a single seaman must spend.

Reasonableness, not proration, is the proper limit on maintenance awards for seamen living with their families. The concern motivating proration is that a seaman with a large house for his family should not be reimbursed for the cost of a home so far in excess of his individual needs. But the requirement that maintenance be limited to the reasonable expenses of a single seaman dispenses with this concern.

Proration punishes a seaman for his thrift. If a seaman rents a one-bedroom apartment for a reasonable amount, he is certainly entitled to reimbursement for all of his actual lodging expenses, since this is modest for even a single person. But under Noble's logic, if this seaman had a spouse, or a spouse and child, he would receive only half or a third of what a reasonable person living alone is entitled to. But a seaman who buys a very large house will receive all of what a reasonable person living alone is entitled to, since his costs, even after proration, will exceed the reasonable amount.

Proration also introduces excessive conceptual complexity into a remedy that courts have striven to keep simple.32 And requiring proration would spawn curious results. If seaman has a child during the course of his recovery, would his maintenance decrease? In what sense would his own costs of food and lodging have decreased? If a seaman's family leaves during his convalescence, should his maintenance rise? Have his lodging expenses changed? Should two seaman, both injured in the service of the same vessel, living in identical houses and eating the same food, receive different maintenance because one has more children?

Thus: A plaintiff who is a seaman injured while in the service of a vessel is entitled to maintenance if he incurred the costs of food and lodging during that period. The plaintiff must present evidence to the court that is sufficient to provide an evidentiary basis for the court to estimate his actual costs. If the plaintiff presents no evidence of actual expenses, the plaintiff may not recover maintenance. Otherwise, the court must determine the maintenance award. This involves three steps.

First, the court must estimate two amounts: the plaintiff seaman's actual costs of food and lodging; and the reasonable cost of food and lodging for a single seaman in the locality of the plaintiff. In determining the reasonable costs of food and lodging, the court may consider evidence in the form of the seaman's actual costs, evidence of reasonable costs in the locality or region, union contracts stipulating a rate of maintenance or per diem payments for shoreside food or lodging while in the service of a vessel, and maintenance rates awarded by other courts for seamen in the same region. A seaman need not present evidence of the reasonable rate; a court may take judicial notice of the prevailing rate in the district.33

Second, the court must compare the seaman's actual expenses to reasonable expenses. If actual expenses exceed reasonable expenses, the court should award reasonable expenses. Otherwise, the court should award actual expenses. Thus, the general rule is that seamen are entitled to maintenance in the amount of their actual expenses on food and lodging up to the reasonable amount for their locality.

Third, there is one exception to this rule that the court must consider. If the court concludes that the plaintiff's actual expenses were inadequate to provide him with reasonable food and lodging, the plaintiff is entitled to the amount that the court has determined is the reasonable cost of food and lodging.34 This insures that the plaintiff's inability to pay for food and lodging in the absence of maintenance payments does not prevent him from recovering enough to afford himself reasonable sustenance and shelter.

We now turn to the maintenance awards that are the subject of this appeal. Determination of the amount of maintenance is a factual question reviewed under the "clearly erroneous" standard. "A maintenance award will be upheld as long as there is an evidentiary basis for the district court's finding."35 Stuart and Hall had to provide evidence of their actual expenses on food and lodging sufficient to constitute an evidentiary basis for the court's awards of maintenance. They did so.

First, there is an evidentiary basis for the district court to have concluded that Stuart's actual maintenance expenses were approximately $30.50 per day, and that Hall's actual maintenance expenses were at least $31.50 per day. The total of Stuart's maintenance expenses--mortgage, escrow, real estate insurance, utilities, and food--that Stuart claimed and supported by evidence is $29.14 per day. The total maintenance expenses claimed and supported by Hall is $37.07 per day.

Noble challenges these figures because they are based on their total mortgage payments and argues that the lodging costs should be prorated. Proration is not appropriate in this case. Stuart and Hall have each individually promised (both to their banks and to their families) to pay their entire mortgages. They offered evidence to show that they paid their entire mortgages themselves. If they had paid any less, they would have had to have found new places to live. Thus, their entire mortgage payments are necessary for their continued shelter in their homes.

Second, there is an evidentiary basis for the district court's conclusion that awards of $30.50 and $31.50 per day do not exceed the reasonable amount a single seaman would spend on food and lodging. The local and national figures for the cost of food and lodging offered by Stuart and Hall ranged from $27.85 to $49.23 per day for a person living alone.

Third, this is not the exceptional case where a seaman's expenditures were inadequate to provide him reasonable food and lodging.

Thus, the evidence supports the awards of maintenance. We find no error in the maintenance awards.

At oral argument, counsel for Noble invited this court to announce a standardized rate of maintenance. As noted above, maintenance awards were quite uniform in the past. From the late 1940s until the 1970s, that rate was usually $8.36 Courts and commentators began to recognize that as prices rose, the value of this standard rate eroded.37 In the late 1970s and 1980s, courts observing this phenomenon began to adjust the standard rate upward to reflect inflation.38 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, this circuit affirmed awards of $15,39 $20,40 and $30.41 Since that time, similar awards have been typical in this circuit.42 Several cases have identified the trend.43

This trend has approximately compensated for the impact of inflation on the seaman's buying power. Once inflation is taken into account, the awards to Hall and Stuart are equivalent to the awards of $6 or $8 a day in the 1960s44 and to the awards of $15 or $20 a day in the late 1970s and early 1980s.45

Awarding a standardized rate of maintenance is appropriate as long as the seaman provides evidence that his actual expenses meet or exceed the standard, reasonable amount. And while we note that the maintenance awards in this case are consistent with the historical trend in standard maintenance rates, we cannot prescribe one of those awards (or any other amount) as a proper standard for the reasonable amount of maintenance. Sitting as a court of review, we do not have the competence to determine the factual question of what the standard amount should be for any part of this circuit. Determining what amount of maintenance is reasonable is a duty invested in the district courts of this circuit, sitting as finders of fact. We today affirm the propriety of developing standard rates of maintenance, but leave that task to the district courts of this circuit.46

We find no error in the district court's awards of maintenance. The district court's judgments are AFFIRMED.