A full understanding of several cases in this year’s report requires an explanation of the relationship between federal bankruptcy courts and federal district courts. In US constitutional parlance, bankruptcy courts are “Article I” courts, whereas district courts are “Article III” courts. That means that the constitutional basis for the existence of district courts lies in the US Constitution, whereas bankruptcy courts were created by the US Congress with effect from 1984, in exercise of its constitutional powers but with no specific constitutional mandate. District court judges are appointed with life tenure; bankruptcy court judges are appointed for 14-year terms. Although bankruptcy courts are units of the district courts in which they sit, they have inferior status. Their jurisdiction is generally confined only to bankruptcy cases, over which district courts also have jurisdiction. The inferior status of bankruptcy courts is emphasised by the fact that appeals from a bankruptcy court go first to a district court,1 and also by the fact that the district court has power to remove proceedings from a bankruptcy court for its own consideration, as in case 313.

The plaintiff, a US citizen, was lead trumpeter on the cruise ship Oasis of the Seas. The ship regularly sailed from its home port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to several foreign ports. The plaintiff performed only while the ship was at sea. He sued his employer, the cruise ship operator, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging that it had failed to provide him with adequate medical care after he fell ill while at work.