Opinion ID: 673848
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claimants' Entitlement to Benefits

Text: 34 In the cases before us, the injuries of Kollias and Gouvatsos, who both undisputedly meet the definition of employee contained in section 2(3), occurred on the high seas. 2 No choice of law issue has been raised by the employers, and we thus conclude that United States law, that is, the LHWCA, is the applicable law. Because the high seas fall within the permissible jurisdictional reach of the LHWCA, the statute covers both claimants' injuries. The Board, therefore, improperly denied Kollias' claim for benefits under the LHWCA and properly granted Gouvatsos' claim. 35 In light of this conclusion, we need not reach Kollias' alternative contention that relitigation of the issue of the LHWCA's coverage of his injury is barred because that issue was resolved in a prior case in which he sought relief pursuant to the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.App. Sec. 688. See Kollias v. Bay Tankers, 742 F.2d 1441 (2d Cir.) (mem.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1073, 105 S.Ct. 567, 83 L.Ed.2d 508 (1984). Moreover, we need not determine whether the Board's findings with respect to Kollias' receipt of and eligibility for state workers' compensation benefits were clearly erroneous, as urged by the Director. Resolution of this question is irrelevant to the ultimate issue of whether Kollias is entitled to LHWCA benefits. See Perini North River Assocs., 459 U.S. at 307-09 & n. 19, 103 S.Ct. at 642-43 & n. 19 (federal and state coverage for injured maritime workers may overlap, and federal coverage is not exclusive in overlapping areas); Sun Ship v. Pennsylvania, 447 U.S. 715, 719-21, 100 S.Ct. 2432, 2435-36, 65 L.Ed.2d 458 (1980) (federal coverage and state coverage for longshore and harbor workers are not mutually exclusive); Calbeck, 370 U.S. at 126-27, 82 S.Ct. at 1203 (an injury may be covered by the LHWCA whether or not [it] was also within the constitutional reach of a state work[ers'] compensation law); 33 U.S.C. Sec. 903(e) (providing that any liability imposed under the LHWCA shall be reduced by any amounts paid to an employee for the same injury, disability, or death for which [LHWCA] benefits are claimed).CONCLUSION 36 In the Kollias case, we grant the petition, reverse the Board's denial of benefits and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. In the Gouvatsos case, we deny the petition and affirm the Board's grant of benefits.