Opinion ID: 59421
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: “Seaman” status and our established precedent

Text: We begin by describing two of the principal remedies available to injured workers who ply their trade in connection with the sea: the Jones Act and the Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”). The two Acts are mutually exclusive compensation regimes. Becker v. Tidewater, Inc., 335 F.3d 376, 386 (5th Cir. 2003). The Jones Act permits a “seaman” to sue his employer for personal injuries suffered as a result of the employer’s negligence. Park v. Stockstill Boat Rentals, Inc., 492 F.3d 600, 602–03 (5th Cir. 2007) (citing 46 U.S.C. § 30104(a)). Such an action allows for potentially unlimited damages and is in contrast to the generally prescribed remedial scheme available to maritime workers under the LHWCA. See Becker, 335 F.3d at 386–87. Congress did not define the term “seaman,” however, and left the courts to decide which maritime 4 No. 05-30963 employees were covered by the Jones Act. Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347, 354 (1995). The LHWCA provides the exclusive remedy to land-based workers who fall within its provisions. Id. at 355. It specifically excludes from its coverage “a master or member of a crew of any vessel.” 33 U.S.C. § 902(3)(G). The Supreme Court has held this exclusion to be a refinement of the term “seaman” under the Jones Act. Chandris, 515 U.S. at 355–56. Thus, a key requirement for Jones Act coverage is actually found in the LHWCA. Id. Under the Jones Act, a “seaman” is a term of art for an employee whose duties “contribut[e] to the function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission” and who has “a connection to a vessel in navigation (or to an identifiable group of such vessels) that is substantial in terms of both its duration and its nature.” Chandris, 515 U.S. at 368 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see also Garret v. Dean Shank Drilling Co., 799 F.2d 1007, 1009 (5th Cir. 1986) (“The worker is a seaman if he is assigned permanently to a vessel in navigation or performs a substantial part of his work on the vessel, contributing to the function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission.”). The existence of a “vessel” is thus crucial to determining seaman status under the Jones Act. Holmes v. Atl. Sounding Co., 437 F.3d 441, 446 (5th Cir. 2006). We have long held that the Jones Act analysis requires a watercraft to be “in navigation,” and we have drawn a distinction between completed crafts and crafts that are under construction. A maritime worker “assisting in the building and ultimate commissioning of a launched but uncompleted vessel floating or maneuvering in navigable waters is not a seaman within the meaning of the Jones Act, because his vessel is not yet an instrumentality of commerce—private or public—and is therefore not ‘in navigation.’” Williams v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 452 F.2d 955, 958 (5th Cir. 1971). In Williams, we held that a launched 5 No. 05-30963 ship conducting sea trials was not “in navigation” because it was not yet being used for its intended purpose. Id. Similarly, in Garret, we held that an offshore drilling rig was not a vessel in navigation because, at the time of the plaintiff’s injury, the structure was still undergoing final construction to make it operational as an oil and gas drilling rig. 799 F.2d at 1009. We noted that the structure had never been engaged as an instrument of commerce and held that a “nonmerchant vessel is in navigation if it is engaged in its expected duties on navigable waters.” Id. In the instant case, the CAJUN EXPRESS was still under construction at the time of Cain’s injury. Although the rig was capable of self-propulsion and had run some test pipe, it lacked vital equipment to make it fully operational as an oil and gas drilling rig. Indeed, as Daniel Haslam testified, no drilling contractor would have found the CAJUN EXPRESS fit to drill a deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico. The CAJUN EXPRESS was not finally completed and placed into service until April or May 2001, after Cain was injured. Thus, under established Fifth Circuit precedent, the CAJUN EXPRESS was not a vessel in navigation and Cain was not a Jones Act seaman.