Cruise Ship Law

ROBERT ABT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. DICKSON COMPANY OF TEXAS, and GREENSPORT SHIP CHANNEL PARTNERS, L.P., Defendants-Appellees.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 24314
October 17, 2007, Filed

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff, a crane operator, appealed a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, which granted a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction filed by defendant, a dock owner. The operator had filed an action pursuant to admiralty jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(h) and asserted claims of negligence, gross negligence, premises liability, and other torts.

OVERVIEW: The operator was injured while walking a crane down the dock. The district court concluded that the operator failed to demonstrate that his actions at the time of the accident were substantially related to maritime activity under 28 U.S.C.S. § 1333(1). On review, the court upheld the dismissal of the case. Using the maritime situs test under 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 740, the court agreed that the locality test was satisfied because the operator was injured once he hit the water and the injuries were exacerbated by the fact that he remained in the channel for a period of time before being rescued. However, the court agreed that the incident was not substantially related to maritime activity. It was uncontested that the operator was walking the crane on the dock and that there were no vessels on or near the dock at the time of the incident. Thus, the land-based movements giving rise to the incident did not fit within the traditional definitions of maritime activity. The injuries were only fortuitously and incidentally connected to navigable waters and bore no relationship to maritime activity in order to satisfy the requirements of federal admiralty jurisdiction.

OUTCOME: The court affirmed the district court's judgment of dismissal.