Source: https://openjurist.org/299/us/41
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 12:23:50+00:00

Document:
P. J. CARLIN CONST. CO. et al.
Mr. E. C. Sherwood, of New York City, for petitioners.
Messrs. Henry Epstein, of Albany, N.Y., and Joseph A. McLaughlin, of New York City, for respondents.
Seeking an award for injuries received in the course of his employment, respondent, Heaney, instituted this proceeding before the New York State Industrial Board against his employer, P. J. Carlin Construction Company, and its insurance carrier, the Travelers Insurance Company, petitioners here. The Board granted an award; the Appellate Division and the Court of Appeals approved.
In September, 1932, the Construction Company, general contractor with principal place of business in New York City, was engaged in building operations on Rikers Island in East River. Respondent and others employed about the work crossed daily from New York City on the Observation, a steamboat owned by Captain Forsythe. They paid for this service.
September 9, 1932, while on her way to Rikers Island with Heaney on board, a violent explosion wrecked the Observation. He and many others were seriously injured.
Counsel for petitioners challenged the Board's jurisdiction upon the ground that as the accident occurred on navigable waters the rights and obligations of the parties were fixed by the maritime law. They also maintained that Heaney was not employed when injured.
Without contesting the Board's finding in respect of employment, petitioners maintain here that the rights and obligations of the parties must be determined under the maritime law and the state Compensation Act has no application. Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, 253 U.S. 149, 40 S.Ct. 438, 64 L.Ed. 834, 11 A.L.R. 1145; Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc., v. Hicks, 285 U.S. 502, 52 S.Ct. 450, 76 L.Ed. 903, 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.
But as the Court of Appeals has pointed out: '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, Ann.Cas.1916B, 158; Doey v. Howland Co., 224 N.Y. 30, 120 N.E. 53; also State Industrial Commission v. Nordenholt Corporation, 259 U.S. 263, 271, 42 S.Ct. 473, 66 L.Ed. 933, 25 A.L.R. 1013.
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 Commission 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.
Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc., v. Hicks, supra, does not support petitioners' position. There the vessel's owner was 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, 125, 39 S.Ct. 221, 63 L.Ed. 510; Benedict on Admiralty (5th ed.) § 63.
The court below reached the correct conclusion, and its judgment must be affirmed.

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 § 63