US Navy Sued After Alleged Rape Of Senior US Merchant Marine Officer

The U.S. Navy is facing a lawsuit over allegations of a senior engineering officer’s rape by the captain of the USNS Carson City, a Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship operated by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC). The complaint, filed in federal court in New Jersey by Sanford Heisler Sharp and Maritime Legal Solutions, accuses the US Government of failing to protect US Merchant Mariner Elsie E. Dominguez, the 1st Assistant Engineer, from sexual assault. This lawsuit brings to light serious concerns about safety and accountability within the Navy’s ranks, particularly regarding the protection of US Merchant Mariners from sexual violence.

The lawsuit alleges a harrowing incident that occurred on December 18, 2021. According to the complaint, Dominguez, while off duty and ashore, had her drink spiked with a drug, leading to her blackout. Incapacitated, she was carried back to the ship by fellow crew members and taken to her stateroom. The complaint further details that Ms. Dominguez awoke the following morning to find herself being raped by the Captain of the ship.

A critical aspect of the lawsuit is the allegation that the Captain, also a US Merchant Marine officer employed by the US Navy, gained access to Ms. Dominguez’s room using a master key code while she was unconscious. The complaint argues that the United States was negligent in allowing the Captain unrestricted access and failing to maintain operational security cameras in the passageways, which had been broken for over a year.

Ms. Dominguez is represented in the matter by Sanford Heisler Sharp partners, Christine Dunn and Carolin Guentert, Co-Chairs of the Sexual Violence, Title IX and Victims’ Rights Practice Group. Ms. Dominguez is also represented by J. Ryan Melogy of the New York law firm Maritime Legal Solutions,.

“What happened to Ms. Dominguez was both foreseeable and preventable by the United States and its agents,” Dunn said. “Ms. Dominguez has accomplished so much in a male-dominated career, but she has been greatly harmed by the failure of the United States to protect her while serving her country. This was the Captain of a United States Navy ship and she thought she would be safe, but the United States failed her.”