Permanent Transfer Of A Seaman To A Platform That Was Not A Vessel Defeated Claims Under The Jones Act
ROBERT MCINNIS VERSUS PARKER DRILLING COMPANY AND STONE ENERGY CORPORATION
NO. 2004-CA-1887
COURT OF APPEAL OF LOUISIANA, FOURTH CIRCUIT
04-1887 (La.App. 4 Cir. 06/01/05);
2005 La. App. LEXIS 1565
June 1, 2005, Decided
[*1] THIS DECISION IS NOT FINAL UNTIL EXPIRATION OF THE FOURTEEN DAY REHEARING PERIOD.
PRIOR HISTORY: APPEAL FROM CIVIL DISTRICT COURT, ORLEANS PARISH. NO. 2001-13692, DIVISION "G-11". Honorable Robin M. Giarrusso, Judge.
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED.
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Appellant drilling company employee was injured aboard platform rig-3 while in the course and scope of his employment. He alleged that he was employed by appellee employer as a seaman at the time of his employment injury, thereby entitling him to recover under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 688. The Civil District Court, Orleans Parish, Division "G-11" (Louisiana) found that the employee failed to prove seaman's status, and he appealed.
OVERVIEW: The issue was whether the employee's transfer to rig-3, which was not a vessel, was temporary or permanent. If the transfer was permanent, then the employee forfeited whatever seaman's status he previously had enjoyed prior to the transfer. The employee claimed that because he had worked on both platform rigs and jack-up rigs for the employer, his transfer to rig-3 had to be considered temporary. The appellate court disagreed and held that the fact that the employee might have been a seaman in the past and might have had the prospect of becoming one again in the future did not mean that his assignment to rig-3 was temporary instead of permanent as those terms were understood in the jurisprudence. It was to the new duties that the appellate court had to look in determining the employee's seaman's status. The court found that all of his duties in his new work assignment to rig-3 were non-vessel-related. Coupling that undisputed fact with the trial court's finding that the employee's reassignment to rig-3 was permanent compelled the conclusion that the employee was not a seaman at the time of his injury regardless of whether he might have qualified as such immediately prior thereto.
OUTCOME: The judgment of the trial court was affirmed
