Opinion ID: 1249162
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retail Outlet Exclusion

Text: SSV argues that even if Peru satisfies the LHWCA's situs and status requirements, she nonetheless falls under one of the act's express exclusions. SSV first argues that Peru is excluded from LHWCA coverage as an individual employed by a . . . retail outlet. 33 U.S.C. § 902(3)(B). Both the ALJ and the BRB agreed. The ALJ did not engage in statutory construction of the phrase retail outlet, remarking simply that [SSV] operates as a retail outlet, taking photographs of tourists while they tour the Battleship Missouri and selling the photographs to the tourists at the completion of their tour. The BRB, after considering the language and history of the LHWCA, determined that the phrase retail outlet encompasses any place where items are sold to consumers. It rejected Peru's arguments in favor of a more restrictive reading of retail outlet that would include only (1) stores in the traditional sense of having four walls and a front door, (2) selling a variety of goods, (3) produced or manufactured by a third party. Peru renews those arguments on appeal. The question of what is a retail outlet for purposes of the LHWCA appears to be one of first impression. When construing the LHWCA, we begin with its plain language. Stevedoring Servs. of Am. v. Price, 382 F.3d 878, 890 (9th Cir.2004) (as amended). We also consider whether a particular interpretation is supported by the act's history, see id., and by the policies animating the act. See Gilliland v. E.J. Bartells Co., 270 F.3d 1259, 1263 (9th Cir.2001). Because the LHWCA does not define the phrase retail outlet, we must look to its ordinary, contemporary, common meaning. United States v. Rowland, 464 F.3d 899, 904-05 (9th Cir.2006) (quoting United States v. Smith, 155 F.3d 1051, 1057 (9th Cir.1998)). In its decision, the BRB quoted the American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.2000) definition of retail: [t]he sale of goods or commodities in small quantities directly to consumers. Id. at 1487. Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed.2004) defines retail as [t]he sale of goods or commodities to ultimate consumers, as opposed to the sale for further distribution or processing. Id. at 1341. Both definitions suggest that the key factor in determining whether sales activity is retail is the identity of the purchaser, not the physical structure where the sales activity takes place, the selection of goods offered, or the nature of the seller. That is, sales activity directed at ultimate purchasers (consumers) is retail, as opposed to wholesale sales activity directed at purchasers who will further process, distribute, or resell the items. See id. at 1628 (defining wholesale). The term outlet, broadly defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as [a] commercial market for goods or services, supra, at 1249, does not alter this conclusion as it does not imply a particular type of market, goods, or seller. Therefore, looking to the plain language of the LHWCA, we conclude that the BRB's interpretation of the phrase retail outlet to mean any place where items are sold directly to consumers is reasonable. The BRB's reading of retail outlet is also consistent with the legislative history and policy of the LHWCA. The House Education and Labor Committee Report on the 1984 Amendments to the act  which added the express exclusions in 33 U.S.C. § 902(3)(B)  offered, as an example of individuals employed by a . . . retail outlet, Sales clerks, stockroom personnel and related personnel of a retail outlet built over the navigable waterways or adjacent to such waterways. . . . On the other hand, a worker employed by such an enterprise to build an addition to the retail outlet, or to repair the pier upon which the store is located, would not be excluded, and would remain within the Act's coverage. H.R.Rep. No. 98-570, at 4-5 (1984), as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. pp. 2734, 2737-38. However, as the BRB noted, this example was intended to be illustrative rather than necessarily exclusive, and thus does not suggest that Congress intended the phrase retail outlet to encompass only permanent structures with stockrooms. See id. In fact, the report elsewhere makes clear that § 902(3)(B) was designed to exclude from the term `employee', and thus from the coverage of the Longshore Act, certain categories of . . . individuals who are employed by enterprises which are not generally viewed as maritime employers, although located on or adjacent to navigable waters, and who are not otherwise exposed to maritime hazards. Id. at 3; 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. at p. 2736 (emphasis added).