Case Name: John LOGAN v. LOUISIANA DOCK COMPANY, INC., et al.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1989-01-30
Citations: 541 So. 2d 182
Docket Number: No. 88-C-1506
Parties: John LOGAN v. LOUISIANA DOCK COMPANY, INC., et al.
Judges: CALOGERO, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with reasons.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 541
Pages: 182–195

Head Matter:
John LOGAN v. LOUISIANA DOCK COMPANY, INC., et al.
No. 88-C-1506.
Supreme Court of Louisiana.
Jan. 30, 1989.
Dissenting Opinion of Justice Lemmon Feb. 6, 1989.
On Rehearing April 14, 1989.
Concurring Opinion of Justice Calogero on Rehearing April 17, 1989.
Concurring Opinion of Justice Dennis on Rehearing May 4, 1989.
For Opinion of Justice Lemmon concurring in decision on Partial Rehearing, See 543 So.2d 1336.
Watson, J., concurred with statement and joined in per curiam on rehearing application and assigned additional concurring reasons.
Calogero, J., concurred in part and dissented in part with reasons and concurred in per curiam on rehearing application and assigned reasons.
Lemmon, J., dissented and assigned reasons and concurred in per curiam on rehearing application and assigned reasons.
Marcus, J., concurred in per curiam on rehearing application with statement.
Dennis, J., concurred in per curiam on rehearing application and assigned reasons.
Frank A. Bruno, Bruno & Bruno, New Orleans, for applicant.
Charles N. Branton, Fred E. Salley, Sal-ley & Associates, New Orleans, for respondents.
Editor’s Note: This opinion was originally published at 538 So.2d 200. It is published here as corrected.

Opinion:
COLE, Justice.
Plaintiff John Logan (Logan) brought this action in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans seeking workers' compensation benefits for injuries sustained in the course of his employment with defendant Louisiana Dock Co., Inc. (Louisiana Dock). The trial court entered judgment for Logan and the defendants appealed. The Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, reversed. The appellate court held the trial court lacked jurisdiction over Logan's claim, finding exclusive federal jurisdiction existed under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), codified at 33 U.S.C. § 901 et seq. We granted certiorari to review the jurisdictional issue and now reverse the Court of Appeal.
ISSUES
Because of Louisiana Dock's failure to seek protective writs to preserve its other errors assigned below, a single question is properly before us:
Whether the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction over Logan's claim under state workers' compensation law or whether his state claim is preempted by the federal LHWCA.
FACTS
The facts pertinent to our jurisdictional inquiry are not in dispute. Logan injured his right knee on November 7, 1985 while employed by Louisiana Dock as a welder. The injury occurred while Logan was performing repairs to a barge on the company's dry docks located in the Mississippi River at New Orleans. He sought and obtained medical attention, including surgery on his knee and was subsequently released to return to work. Logan continued to complain of pain in his knee and was ultimately discharged by Louisiana Dock. He brought this action in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, seeking compensation under Louisiana workers' compensation laws. Louisiana Dock answered, challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court and asserting other defenses. After trial on the merits, the trial court awarded Logan temporary total disability benefits. The Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit reversed and the matter is now before us on Logan's application for writ of certiorari.
ANALYSIS
A. Federal Jurisdiction
On the facts established below, there is no question Logan's injuries are compensable under the federal LHWCA. At the time he was injured, Logan was working in a dry dock and engaged in ship repair. In 33 U.S.C. § 902(3), the term "employee" is defined to include "any harbor worker including a ship repair-man_" The coverage of the Act extends to an "employee" injured "upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock...." 33 U.S.C. § 903(a). Thus, Logan meets both the "status" and "situs" requirements for recovery under the LHWCA.
B. Concurrent Jurisdiction
The availability of a federal remedy does not necessarily foreclose Logan's claim for relief under state law. Absent federal preemption, Louisiana is free to extend Logan the protection of its workers' compensation laws. It is well established that federal preemption of state laws will not be found without a clear expression of Congressional intent, and there is a strong presumption against finding preemption. See, e.g., Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 105 S.Ct. 2380, 85 L.Ed.2d 728 (1985); and Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp., 331 U.S. 218, 67 S.Ct. 1146, 91 L.Ed. 1447 (1947). In Askew v. American Waterways Operators, Inc., 411 U.S. 325, 341, 93 S.Ct. 1590, 1600, 36 L.Ed.2d 280 (1973), the Court stated: "Even though Congress has acted in the admiralty area, state regulation is permissible, absent a clear conflict with the federal law." The U.S. Supreme Court has also noted that in cases of doubt concerning the applicability of state compensation law relative to the LHWCA, the question should be resolved in favor of the constitutionality of the state remedy. See Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor v. Perini North River Associates, 459 U.S. 297, 309, 103 S.Ct. 634, 643, 74 L.Ed.2d 465 (1983) (hereafter Perini). With these presumptions in mind, we turn to the applicable law.
1. Statutory Interpretation
We note the LHWCA, as amended, contains no express declaration of Congressional intent to prohibit states from providing compensation to injured workers in lieu of, or in addition to, the benefits provided under the LHWCA. In fact, the 1972 amendments to 33 U.S.C. § 903(a) eliminated existing language in the statute that pointed to exclusivity. Referring to this change, the U.S. Supreme Court observed in Sun Ship, Inc. v. Pennsylvania, 447 U.S. 715, 100 S.Ct. 2432, 65 L.Ed.2d 458 (1980): "It would be a tour de force of statutory misinterpretation to treat the removal of phrasing that arguably establishes exclusive jurisdiction as manifesting the intent to command such exclusivity." Id at 720-721, 100 S.Ct. at 2436-2437 (emphasis in original). In addition, 33 U.S.C. § 903(e), which provides for the crediting of amounts paid under "any other workers' compensation law" against an employer's liability under the LHWCA, implies Congress envisioned the existence of parallel state remedies.
More problematic is the language of 33 U.S.C. § 905(a) which states: "The liability of an employer prescribed in Section 904 of this title shall be exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer to the employee...." However, the argument § 905 precludes concurrent state remedies was considered and rejected in Sun Ship. See 447 U.S. at 722, 100 S.Ct. at 2437. Finally, the legislative history of the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA reveals no evidence of Congressional intent to preempt state law and create exclusive federal jurisdiction.
Louisiana Dock contends the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA, which extended the act's protection to maritime workers shoreward of the water's edge, were designed to create a uniform compensation system. See Perini, 459 U.S. at 318, 103 5.Ct. at 647. We agree that Congress wished to provide a uniform, minimum level of compensation for injured workers. It also wished to avoid the problem of harbor workers walking in and out of federal coverage in going between a pier and a ship. See Nacirema Operating Co. v. Johnson, 396 U.S. 212, 90 S.Ct. 347, 24 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969); see also H.R.Rep. No. 1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 10, reprinted in 1972 U.S. Code Cong. & Ad.News 4698, 4708. However, the desire of Congress to provide a uniform, minimum level of protection does not require us to imply Congressional intent to preempt the field and to forbid the states from offering injured workers comparable or greater benefits. The absence of preemptive language in the statute and its history militates in favor of finding concurrent jurisdiction, particularly in light of the presumptions against finding preemption noted above.
We find the Court of Appeal clearly erred in finding preemption is mandated by the LHWCA. This holding is contrary to the statutory language itself as well as the intepretation of the statute by the U.S. Supreme Court in Sun Ship. The appeals court erroneously relied on the U.S. Fifth Circuit's opinion in Texas Employers Insurance Ass'n v. Jackson, 820 F.2d 1406 (1987). (hereafter T.E.I.A.). The panel's de-cisión in T.E.I.A. was vacated by a grant of rehearing en banc and is without prece-dential authority. 828 F.2d 1 (5th Cir. 1987); Griffis v. Gulf Coast Pre-Stress Co., Inc., 850 F.2d 1090 (5th Cir.1988) at 1092. In its opinion on rehearing en banc, the Fifth Circuit retreated somewhat from the sweeping dicta relied on by the Court of Appeal. 862 F.2d 491 (5th Cir.1988). We find nothing in the text of the LHWCA itself to support the broad preemption claims of the Fourth Circuit below: state and federal compensation laws are complimentary, not contradictory; there is no evidence in the LHWCA of Congressional intent to preempt state law; and, as noted above, § 905 was designed not to preempt state remedies but to abolish non-LHWCA federal claims by injured longshoremen. Our conclusion that concurrent jurisdiction is the better rule is supported by the scholarship on this question.
2. Scholarship
Scholarly commentators are somewhat divided on the question of whether Congress, in passing the LHWCA, intended to preempt the field of compensation benefits for injured harbor workers and longshoremen. Certain scholars have argued the comprehensive nature of the LHWCA points to Congressional intent to occupy the entire field and impose nationwide uniformity of remedies for injured longshoremen. A clear majority of the commentators, however, find concurrent jurisdiction is the better rule for a variety of legal and policy reasons. We agree.
As a policy matter, it would be "undesirable in the highest degree" to return to the notion that federal and state jurisdiction over claims such as Logan's are mutually exclusive. See Gilmore and Black, supra, at 425. Concurrent jurisdiction over certain maritime-related injuries eliminates guesswork as to the injured employee's choice of forum; no injured employee can fall through a jurisdictional crack. Louisiana has a very important interest in assuring that its land-based citizens, like Logan, who work in hazardous maritime-related activities, are fully compensated for their injuries. Concurrent jurisdiction avoids the anomalous and undesirable situation of an injured harbor worker receiving less compensation than his injured colleague on shore. Finally, application of a concurrent state remedy for an employee like Logan does no harm to the federal benefits "floor" provided by the LHWCA. Accordingly, we find concurrent jurisdiction is the better rule and should be applied to the fullest extent permissible.
3. Federal Jurisprudence
In ascertaining the current state of federal law governing the parameters of concurrent jurisdiction in this case, an ounce of history is worth several pounds of logic. In its 1917 decision in Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 37 S.Ct. 524, 61 L.Ed. 1086, the Supreme Court held the states could not constitutionally apply their workers' compensation laws to maritime injuries. In 1927, Congress enacted the LHWCA which provided a federal remedy for maritime workers who were barred by Jensen from recovering under state law. Thus, two mutually exclusive jurisdictional spheres were created, but the precise boundary of the two was difficult to determine in individual cases. The result was the recognition of a "twilight zone" at the border of the two spheres. Within this "twilight zone," concurrent jurisdiction was recognized. Repair work on a completed vessel, i.e., the type of work Logan was involved in, was within the "twilight zone." See Bethlehem Steel Co. v. Moore, 335 U.S. 874, 69 S.Ct. 239, 93 L.Ed. 417 (1948); Baskin v. Industrial Accident Comm'n, 338 U.S. 854, 70 S.Ct. 99, 94 L.Ed. 523 (1949); see also Gilmore and Black, supra, at 421; but see Flowers v. Travelers Ins. Co., 258 F.2d 220 (5th Cir.1958).
Following the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA which extended its reach inland to provide a federal remedy for workers shoreward of the "Jensen line," new ques tions were raised about the state and federal jurisdiction over injuries to maritime workers. The leading case dealing with the question of concurrent jurisdiction in light of these amendments is Sun Ship, 447 U.S. 715, 100 S.Ct. 2432, 65 L.Ed.2d 458 (1980). The Court of Appeal and Louisiana Dock both place great emphasis on Sun Ship's reference to "land-based injuries." We are more impressed by the factual similarities. Sun Ship, Inc., like Louisiana Dock, was a shipbuilding and ship repair enterprise. 447 U.S. at 716, 100 S.Ct. at 2434. Like Louisiana Dock, Sun Ship, Inc. was located on a "navigable water of the United States." Id. Like Logan, the Sun Ship plaintiffs were engaged in shipbuilding or ship repair activities. Id. Finally, like Logan, the Sun Ship plaintiffs sought and were awarded state compensation benefits even though they were clearly eligible for benefits under the LHWCA. Id. The Supreme Court affirmed.
In upholding the state benefits award, the Court noted the absence of Congressional intent in the 1972 LHWCA amendments to change the "accepted understanding that federal jurisdiction would coexist with state compensation laws," at least insofar as state law "may constitutionally operate under the Jensen doctrine." Id. at 722, 100 S.Ct. at 2437. The Court of Appeal read the latter phrase as calling for a return to a rigid, water's edge test of jurisdiction. We disagree. Such a rigid interpretation is ahistorical in that it ignores the import of Davis and its progeny noted above. The Sun Ship Court's reference to the "accepted understanding" adopts this post-Jensen jurisprudence. This interpretation is confirmed by Perini, 459 U.S. at 319-320, 103 S.Ct. at 648-649.
We decline to read Sun Ship as narrowly as the Court of Appeal did. The opinion notes the remedial purpose of the 1972 LHWCA amendments, i.e., to aid injured maritime workers. 447 U.S. at 725-726, 100 S.Ct. at 2439. A return to a rigid Jensen analysis and the incumbent jurisprudential disputes it would engender thwarts the remedial purposes of the federal act and the state's interest in compensating injured workers. The U.S. Supreme Court in Sun Ship, Herb's Welding and Perini has consistently resolved jurisdictional questions in favor of providing the injured employee with a remedy under federal law, state law or both, rather than by reconstructing a bright dividing line beyond which state law cannot pass. We cannot read this line of cases as erecting a barrier to Logan's recovery.
Indeed, even under a traditional "twilight zone" analysis of the sort explicitly endorsed by Sun Ship, state jurisdiction would be proper over Logan's injury since dry docks have historically been viewed as extensions of the land. See, e.g. Johnson v. John F. Beasley Construction Co., 742 F.2d 1054, 1063 n. 8 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied 469 U.S. 1211, 105 S.Ct. 1180, 84 L.Ed.2d 328 (1985); Bennett v. Perini Corp., 510 F.2d 114, 116 (1st Cir.1975); Cook v. Belden Concrete Products, Inc., 472 F.2d 999, 1001-1002 (5th Cir.1973), cert. denied 414 U.S. 868, 94 S.Ct. 175, 38 L.Ed.2d 116 (1973); Dirma v. United States, Department of the Navy, 695 F.Supp. 714 (E.D.N.Y.1988). The fact that the LHWCA specifies dry docks are to be included in the scope of its coverage indicates Congressional recognition of their traditional status as extensions of the land, not an intent to divest the status of jurisdiction. This is the essence of the holding in Sun Ship; the availability of an LHWCA remedy does not preclude concurrent state coverage.
We disagree with the Court of Appeal's reliance on the U.S. Fifth Circuit's decisions in Flowers v. Travelers Insurance Co., 258 F.2d 220 (1958), cert. denied 359 U.S. 920, 79 S.Ct. 591, 3 L.Ed.2d 582 (1959); and Noah v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 267 F.2d 218 (1959). These cases reflect the Fifth Circuit's own restrictive reading of the jurisdictional boundaries un der the LHWCA. While Flowers involved a situation factually on all fours with the one presented here, the decision does not discuss the historic classification of dry docks as extensions of the land. Noah is factually distinguishable because it involves neither ship repair nor a dry dock. Most importantly, however, these decisions are simply not in keeping with the recent dictates of the U.S. Supreme Court in Sun Ship, Herb's Welding and Perini as discussed above. We decline to follow them.
4. State Jurisprudence
Our interpretation of federal law governing jurisdiction over Logan's injuries is corroborated by our own prior cases dealing with this question. While the Jensen doctrine was rigidly applied by several of this Court's early decisions, our more recent cases have followed the federal trend of attempting to ameliorate its harsh consequences. In the 1957 case of Richard v. Lake Charles Stevedores, 95 So.2d 830 (La.App. 1st Cir.1957), cert. denied 355 U.S. 952, 78 S.Ct. 535, 2 L.Ed.2d 529 (1958), the First Circuit, in an opinion by then Judge Tate, held state court jurisdiction was proper over the claim of a longshoreman injured in the hold of a vessel moored on navigable waters. In so doing, it followed U.S. Supreme Court rulings permitting state jurisdiction over claims by workers engaged in repairing vessels on navigable waters. 95 So.2d at 831. The holding in Richard is significant for two reasons. First, it obviously lends great support to our decision here. In addition, however, it establishes Louisiana's trend of extending the protection of its workers' compensation laws to the greatest extent permissible.
We find evidence of this trend in subsequent cases. In Umbehagen v. Equitable Equipment Co., 329 So.2d 245 (La.App. 4th Cir.1976), the Fourth Circuit anticipated the Supreme Court's Sun Ship decision, holding state remedies were not preempted by the LHWCA in claims for injuries of land-based employees covered by the federal act. In Poche v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 339 So.2d 1212 (La.1976), we permitted third party negligence actions to proceed under Louisiana law despite the availability of a federal remedy under the LHWCA.
In the 1982 case of Thompson v. Teledyne Movible Offshore, Inc., this court found state subject matter jurisdiction existed over an injury sustained on a drilling platform outside territorial waters, despite the fact Thompson was entitled to LHWCA benefits. 419 So.2d 822 (1982). The "fixed platform" of Thompson is closely analogous to the dry dock, an extension of the land. The state's interest is not less in extending the protection of its law to Logan, injured over inland waters, than to workers injured outside its territorial waters on the Outer Continental Shelf. The facts here warrant a similar finding of subject matter jurisdiction.
In Beverly v. Action Marine Services, Inc., 433 So.2d 139 (1983), this Court again extended the boundaries of concurrent jurisdiction. Beverly died while working on a barge moored in navigable waters. The Third Circuit found federal preemption (422 So.2d 623 (1982)) and this Court reversed. We extended state jurisdiction to afford the deceased's relatives a remedy under state workers' compensation law since none existed under the LHWCA. In attempting to distinguish Beverly, the Court of Appeal makes much of the fact that the Beverly plaintiffs had no federal remedy. We find this reasoning is flawed.
First, Sun Ship indicated the presence or absence of a federal remedy was not dis-positive of the question of whether or not state concurrent jurisdiction was proper. Second, the Court of Appeal concluded the "Jensen line" stated a constitutional wall beyond which state jurisdiction could not pass. If this second premise were true, the absence of a federal remedy was irrelevant and Beverly's conclusion is wrong. Only by saying the presence or absence of a federal remedy controls the availability of a state remedy seaward of the "Jensen line" can the Fourth Circuit's reasoning be upheld. We decline to create such a restrictive test. There is no basis for returning to the pr e-Davis "bright line" interpretation of Jensen. Nor is there basis for finding, contrary to Sun Ship, that the presence of a federal remedy requires a finding of federal preemption. Here, as in Beverly, we conclude Louisiana workers' compensation law supplements existing federal law and jurisdiction was properly exercised by the trial court.
CONCLUSION
We conclude the trial court's exercise of jurisdiction over Logan's claim was proper under both state and federal law. The Court of Appeal erred in concluding otherwise. Nothing in the language or history of the LHWCA indicates Congressional intent to prohibit the state from offering the protection of its workers' compensation laws to Logan. Here, as in Beverly, the state and federal remedies are complimentary. Concurrent jurisdiction does no harm to the remedial purposes of the LHWCA and Louisiana has an important interest in protecting its citizens injured on its inland waters. We are also persuaded by the arguments of most legal scholars in favor of concurrent jurisdiction on a variety of policy grounds. Finally, Louisiana's exercise of jurisdiction over Logan's injury is proper under a fair reading of Sun Ship and its progeny, as well as under a traditional Davis "twilight zone" analysis since Logan was injured in a dry dock, an extension of the land.
This matter is before us on Logan's application, and Louisiana Dock failed to seek writs in this Court to preserve the other assignments of error it urged in the Court of Appeal. As we said in Roger v. Estate of Moulton, 513 So.2d 1126 (1987) (on rehearing), "a party may not seek to change the judgment below or any part thereof unless he has appealed or petitioned for review." Id. at 1135. Accordingly, we may not consider Louisiana Dock's assignments of error pertaining to Logan's workers' compensation claim.
DECREE
The judgment of the Court of Appeal is reversed and the judgment of the trial court is reinstated.
REVERSED.
CALOGERO, J., concurs in part and dissents in part with reasons.
WATSON, J., also concurs to add the comment that this opinion represents an excellent analysis of a difficult issue.
LEMMON, J., dissents and assigns reasons.
. 526 So.2d 428 (1988).
. 531 So.2d 462 (1988).
. It appears from the record that Logan is also pursuing a federal claim for benefits as well. See Exhibits attached to original brief for the plaintiff at 69-77 (No. 88-C-1506). There is, however, no chance of Logan recovering redu-plicative benefits for his injury. See 33 U.S.C. § 903(e).
. See the discussion in G. Gilmore and C. Black, The Law of Admiralty 425-426 (1975) (hereafter Gilmore and Black).
. The 1972 amendments to § 905 were designed to address the completely different problem of third party actions by longshoremen for unseaworthiness and actions by vessels against stevedores for indemnity. See Gilmore and Black, supra, at 446-455; see also Boudreaux v. American Workover, Inc., 680 F.2d 1034 (5th Cir.1982); Price v. Zim Israel Navigation Co., Ltd., 616 F.2d 422 (9th Cir.1980).
. This history is discussed at length in Sun Ship, 447 U.S. at 721-722, 100 S.Ct. at 2436-2437, and Perini, 459 U.S. at 313-323, 103 S.Ct. at 645-650. Gilmore and Black note that the legislative history of the 1972 amendments does not discuss the pre-1972 case law permitting the seaward extension of state compensation laws. On the other hand, the history discusses specific cases it seeks to overrule dealing with recovery for unseaworthiness by longshoremen. Gilmore and Black, supra, at 425.
. The U.S. Supreme Court said as much in Herb's Welding Inc. v. Gray, 470 U.S. 414, 417 n. 3, 105 S.Ct. 1421, 1424 n. 3, 84 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985) (hereafter Herb's Welding).
. See Steeg, The Exclusivity of Federal Longshoremen's Compensation after the LHWCA Amendments of 1972, 10 J.Mar.L. & Com. 395, 404-409 (1979) (hereafter Steeg); see also Comment, Journey into the Twilight Zone, 23 Loy.L. Rev. 504 (1977).
. See Larson, The Conflict of Laws Problem Between the Longshoremen's Act and State Workmen's Compensation Acts, 45 S.Cal.L.Rev. 699, 736-738 (1972); Note, Admiralty-Longshoremen-Application of State Workers' Compensation Scheme to Longshoremen's Injury, Sun Ship, Inc. v. Pennsylvania, 447 U.S. 715, 100 S.Ct. 2432, 65 L.Ed.2d 458 (1980), 5 Suffolk Transnat'l L.J. 263, 270-272 (1981), (hereafter Note, Admiralty).
. This situation is discussed in Steeg, supra, at 405-409. As the U.S. Supreme Court observed in Sun Ship, Congress was not concerned about "a disparity between adequate federal benefits and superior state benefits." 447 U.S. at 724, 100 S.Ct. at 2439. Rather, Congress sought to create a guaranteed minimum benefit for injured workers and to raise the level of those benefits. See Note, Admiralty, supra, at 269-270; P.C. Pfeiffer Co., Inc. v. Ford, 444 U.S. 69, 73 n. 3, 100 S.Ct. 328, 332 n. 3, 62 L.Ed.2d 225 (1979). Under concurrent jurisdiction, the LHWCA can fulfill its intended function of affording injured maritime workers a remedy, yet the worker is free to look to state law if it affords more desirable benefits.
. See generally Gilmore and Black, supra, at 404-430; D. Robertson, Admiralty and Federalism 202-221 (1970) (hereafter Robertson); Sun Ship, 447 U.S. at 717-721, 100 S.Ct. at 2434-2437, for a discussion of the history of the law governing compensation of injured longshoremen.
. This decision created the so-called "Jensen line," the line formed by the edge of a navigable waterway beyond which state compensation laws could not pass. The Court's reasoning and result prompted a bitter dissent by Justice Holmes. 244 U.S. at 218 et seq., 37 S.Ct. at 530 et seq.
. See Davis v. Department of Labor and Industry, 317 U.S. 249, 256, 63 S.Ct. 225, 229, 87 L.Ed. 246 (1942) (hereafter Davis). This "twilight zone" was also complicated by the "maritime but local" exception developed by the Court in the 1920's. See Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. Rohde, 257 U.S. 469, 42 S.Ct. 157, 66 L.Ed. 321 (1922). This development is discussed in Gilmore and Black, supra, at 418 et seq. and Robertson, supra, at 205 et seq.
. Davis, 317 U.S. at 256, 63 S.Ct. at 229. See also Note, Herb's Welding v. Gray: "Maritime Employment" Remains Undefined, 6 Pace L.Rev. 311, 317 (1986).
. See Purnell v. Norned Shipping B. V., 804 F.2d 248 (3d Cir.1986) (opinion sur denial of petition for panel rehearing) ("Indeed, the Supreme Court has held that states may confer workman's compensation benefits on harborworkers even though Congress has conferred similar benefits on most such workers.")
. Bethlehem Steel Co. v. Moore, 335 U.S. 874, 69 S.Ct. 239, 93 L.Ed. 417 (1948) and Baskin v. Industrial Acc. Comm., 338 U.S. 854, 70 S.Ct. 99, 94 L.Ed. 523 (1949).
. A notable exception is Ellis v. Travelers Ins. Co., 241 La. 433, 129 So.2d 729 (1961), which was relied upon by the Court of Appeal. It did not overrule Richard, but based its finding of no jurisdiction largely on the Fifth Circuit's decisions in Flowers and Noah which we herein declined to follow. It is also factually distinguishable since Ellis was not injured while working on a vessel in a dry dock. A similar rationale prevailed in Wixom v. Travelers Ins. Co., 357 So.2d 1343 (La.App. 4th Cir.1978). There, the Court of Appeal also found Flowers controlling. Like Ellis, it is factually distinguishable. We find both cases reflect an anomalous and overly restrictive view of concurrent jurisdiction and decline to follow them.
. The Fourth Circuit misstates the rule of Poche in its opinion. See 526 So.2d at 430.
. In Rodrigue v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 395 U.S. 352, 89 S.Ct. 1835, 23 L.Ed.2d 360 (1969), the Supreme Court characterized fixed drilling rigs as islands. See also Herb's Welding, 470 U.S. at 421-422, 105 S.Ct. at 1426-1427.