Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/299/41/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 20:51:44+00:00

Document:
A company constructing a building on an island in navigable waters in New York, engaged the owner of a steamboat to ferry its workmen to and from the island. The shipowner was to collect specified fares from the workmen ferried. If, in any day, the collections were less than a specified amount, the company would make up the difference to the shipowner; if they exceeded it, the excess would be paid over to the company up to the point of reimbursing it for its payments in meeting such deficiencies. One of the workmen, while being so ferried, was injured by an explosion on the ship.
Held that an award of compensation against the company and its insurance carrier under the New York Workmen's Compensation Act was not invalid as an intrusion upon the maritime jurisdiction. P. 299 U. S. 44.
of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, of the State (243 App.Div. 648, no opinion), sustaining an award of workmen's compensation.
upon any given day, we shall reimburse you for the difference. Where your fares exceed $60.00 a day, you will pay the excess to us up to a point where we are reimbursed for any monies paid to you by us under this license. . . . We understand that your boat is warranted to be in first class condition, with all necessary permits to operate in this service."
"Heaney stepped into his employment the moment he stepped aboard the said steamboat. . . . Such transportation by means of the steamship Observation was included within and was part of the contract of employment between P. J. Carlin Construction Co., the employer herein, and Edward Heaney, the claimant, and was an incident of the claimant's employment. At the time Edward Heaney sustained the accidental injuries . . . , the status of the claimant and the employer herein was a matter of local concern, was subject to the regulation of the State, and in no way worked prejudice to any characteristic feature of the General Maritime Law. The claim . . . is within the jurisdiction of the Industrial Board, and not such a matter as is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Admiralty Law. This claim comes within the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Law."
the maritime law, and the state Compensation Act has no application. Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, 253 U. S. 149; Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc. v. Hicks, 285 U. S. 502, and kindred cases which hold that the rules of maritime law control rights and liabilities arising out of torts upon navigable waters are relied upon.
"No recovery is sought against the employer in this case because of any wrong alleged to have been done by the employer. A recovery is sought as the result of injuries for which the statute, read into the contract, gives a right to recovery. . . . An award under the Workmen's Compensation Law is not made on the theory that a tort has been committed; on the contrary, it is upon the theory that the statute giving the commission power to make an award is read into and becomes a part of the contract."
See Post v. Burger & Gohlke, 216 N.Y. 544, 111 N.E. 351; Doey v. Howland Co., 224 N.Y. 30, 120 N.E. 53; also State Industrial Comm'n v. Nordenholt Corporation, 259 U. S. 263, 259 U. S. 271.
This Court has often ruled that the maritime law cannot be modified by state enactments so as materially to interfere with its essential uniformity. State Industrial Comm'n v. Nordenholt Corporation, supra. But this doctrine, we think, has no application in the circumstances here presented. The present attempt is to enforce a liability assumed by employer and insurance carrier under a nonmaritime contract. All parties, as well as the accident, were within the limits of New York State. The contract had no direct relation to navigation; to enforce it against the parties before us will not materially interfere with the uniformity of any maritime rule. There is no claim against the ship or her owner; their rights are not in issue.
held liable for injuries received on navigable waters in consequence of the master's negligence. The respondent here seeks to enforce a contract of employment which had no direct and immediate relation to navigation, business, or commerce of the sea. North Pacific Steamship Co. v. Hall Bros. Marine Railway & Shipbuilding Co., 249 U. S. 119, 249 U. S. 125; Benedict on Admiralty (5th ed.) § 63.

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 § 63