Opinion ID: 336332
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Admiralty Extension Act

Text: 11 Congress passed the Admiralty Extension Act, 46 U.S.C. § 740, to permit recovery in situations where a ship or its gear causes damage or injury on shore. Under that act, 12 (t)he admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States shall extend to and include all cases of damage or injury, to person or property, caused by a vessel on navigable water, notwithstanding that such damage or injury be done or consummated on land. 13 In Gutierrez v. Waterman Steamship Corp., 373 U.S. 206, 209-10, 83 S.Ct. 1185, 1188, 10 L.Ed.2d 297 (1963), the Supreme Court held that a claim for injuries suffered by a longshoreman who slipped on some loose beans on a dock came within federal maritime jurisdiction under the Admiralty Extension Act, since the beans were spilled as a result of negligence on the part of the shipowner in allowing beans packed in defective bags to be unloaded. In contrast, Parker's injury was in no sense caused by a vessel on navigable water, and his contention that jurisdiction could have been predicated on 46 U.S.C. § 740 is accordingly without merit.