Crew member, who was working on his employer's vessel and was allegedly injured when he threw a pump onto another owner's distressed vessel, could bring a claim for unseaworthiness against the other vessel owner
MIKE JENKINS, Plaintiff, vs. FITZGERALD MARINE, & REPAIR, INC., et al., Defendants.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI, SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION
2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89310
December 4, 2007, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff crew member sued defendants, his employer and a vessel owner; the crew member brought claims against the employer under the Jones Act and for maintenance and cure and against both defendants for unseaworthiness. The owner moved to dismiss.
OVERVIEW: The crew member claimed that he was working on the employer's vessel and was injured when he threw a pump onto the owner's distressed vessel. He alleged that the owner's vessel was unseaworthy at the time that he attempted to rescue it. The vessel owner argued that the crew member could bring an unseaworthiness claim only against his employer. The court found that the duty to maintain a seaworthy vessel was owed to anyone who performed services for the vessel with the owner's consent. Although Congress had amended the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) to preclude persons covered under the LHWCA from bringing an unseaworthiness claim against a third-party vessel owner, nothing in that amendment implied that an unseaworthiness claim could not be brought by members of other vessels' crews. The fact that the crew member could bring a variety of claims against his employer did not preclude him from asserting an unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner.
OUTCOME: The owner's motion to dismiss was denied.
