What damages are recoverable under DOHSA?

1. What damages are recoverable under DOHSA? The short answer

Losing someone in a death far out at sea is devastating, and families understandably expect the law to account for the full weight of that loss. The Death on the High Seas Act does not work that way. When you ask what damages are recoverable under dohsa, the honest answer is that the Act deliberately limits recovery to money the family can show it lost in dollars.

That limit is written into the statute and has been reinforced by the Supreme Court more than once. It is narrower than most state wrongful-death laws and narrower than what maritime law allows for deaths closer to shore. Understanding the line early helps a family and its wrongful death at sea attorney focus on building the parts of the claim that DOHSA actually pays for.

The Three Mile Line

Where a death happens on the water decides which law controls, and how much a family can recover.

2. Where DOHSA applies: beyond 3 nautical miles

The three-mile line is not a technicality. Courts measure it from the site of the accident, not from where the person ultimately died (see Bergen v. F/V St. Patrick). If the fatal event happened beyond three nautical miles, DOHSA controls and its narrow damages rules apply. If it happened within three miles, a family may be able to use state wrongful-death law or general maritime law, which often allow non-pecuniary damages that DOHSA forbids.

This is why the first questions in a death-at-sea case are where and how it happened. Our guide on which law applies to an offshore injury walks through those dividing lines in more detail, and the same logic drives the value of a wrongful-death claim.

3. The pecuniary damages you can recover

So what damages are recoverable under DOHSA in practical terms? Courts build the number from evidence about the person and the family:

Loss of financial support

The largest piece is usually the money the person would have earned and contributed to the household over their working life. This is projected from age, health, earning capacity, and a documented history of supporting the family.

Loss of services

The household and personal services the person performed, from childcare to maintenance, have a measurable replacement value that the family can recover.

Loss of nurture, care, and guidance

For minor children, courts recognize the pecuniary value of the training, instruction, and guidance a parent would have provided. It is valued in financial terms, not as emotional loss.

Funeral expenses

Courts are split. Some allow funeral costs paid by a beneficiary as a pecuniary loss and some do not, so the answer depends on the circuit hearing the case.

4. What DOHSA does not let you recover

The hardest part of what damages are recoverable under dohsa for families is what the Act leaves out. These exclusions are not oversights. The Supreme Court has treated DOHSA as Congress's deliberate and complete statement of what a high-seas death claim can recover.

Punitive damages are also treated as non-pecuniary and are not available under DOHSA. That is a sharp contrast with many state wrongful-death claims and with general maritime law closer to shore, where punitive damages can be on the table for reckless conduct. The gap is one of the strongest reasons to confirm, early, whether DOHSA truly governs or whether another framework gives the family more.

5. Who can file and who the damages are for

DOHSA is specific about who may sue and who benefits. The action must be brought by the personal representative of the decedent's estate, and the recovery is for the exclusive benefit of the spouse, parent, child, or dependent relative. A grieving spouse or child usually cannot file in their own name until a court appoints a personal representative, which is why that appointment is often the first practical step.

Because the pool of beneficiaries and the appointment process are set by the statute, getting them right early avoids costly problems later. Our companion guide on who can file a DOHSA claim covers the beneficiary rules and the personal-representative process step by step.

6. The commercial aviation exception

There is one notable carve-out. After the TWA Flight 800 disaster, Congress amended DOHSA to treat commercial aviation deaths differently. For a commercial aviation accident on the high seas beyond 12 nautical miles, survivors can recover the extra non-pecuniary damages of loss of care, comfort, and companionship, on top of the usual pecuniary losses. If a commercial aviation accident happens 12 nautical miles or less from shore, DOHSA does not apply at all and other law governs.

This exception matters because it shows how deliberate the ordinary DOHSA limits are. Congress chose to expand recovery for one category of high-seas deaths and left the rest, including cruise-ship and vessel deaths, under the pecuniary-only rule.

7. DOHSA vs the Jones Act and general maritime law

DOHSA rarely stands entirely alone. When the person who died was a crew member, the Jones Act gives the family a separate negligence claim against the maritime employer, and a Jones Act survival action can capture the seaman's pre-death pain and suffering, which DOHSA on its own does not reach. Sorting out which claims apply is central to a maritime wrongful death attorney's work.

For deaths that fall outside DOHSA entirely, such as some deaths within territorial waters, the general maritime wrongful-death action recognized in Moragne v. States Marine Lines can allow broader, non-pecuniary recovery. That is why the same facts can produce very different outcomes depending on where the death occurred and the decedent's status. Our overview of DOHSA wrongful death explained maps how these claims fit together.

8. Deadlines and what to do next

Knowing what damages are recoverable under DOHSA is only useful if the claim is preserved. Maritime wrongful-death actions are generally subject to a three-year statute of limitations under 46 U.S.C. 30106, running from the date of death, but claims involving government vessels or foreign carriers can carry shorter, stricter deadlines. Waiting is the most common way a strong case gets weaker.

A few early steps protect the family. Begin the process of having a personal representative appointed. Preserve anything you have, from the person's employment and earnings records to communications about the voyage. Be careful with paperwork, because an insurer or company may ask you to give a statement or sign a release, and you are not required to. You can explore related maritime case types to understand your options, and a maritime attorney can confirm the exact deadline and the full set of claims for your situation.