Court Opinion

ID: 9704623
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:41:25.762039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:03.660318
License: Public Domain

*677Archer, J.
I respectfully dissent. The Court of Appeals decision in this case should be affirmed.
In Braen v Pfeifer Oil Transportation Co, 361 US 129; 80 S Ct 247; 4 L Ed 2d 191 (1959), the United States Supreme Court held that "course of employment” under the Jones Act is the equivalent of "in the service of the ship” formula used in maintenance and cure cases. The majority states that the Court of Appeals placed improper emphasis on portions of Braen, while ignoring its holding. I disagree.
By holding that course of employment under the Jones Act was the equivalent of the "in the service of the ship” formula, the Braen Court left the door open for fact situations like the one presented here. By reason of the unique nature of his employment, a seaman is considered to be on the shipowner’s business while he is enjoying shore leave because such leave, with its attendant relaxation, is a necessary and beneficial remedy for the confinement and discipline to which the seaman is subjected while aboard ship. There is no valid reason why, for purposes of determining the shipowner’s liability under the Jones Act, a seaman on leave who slips and falls on the dock while returning to the ship should not be considered to be "in the course of his employment.”
Defendant contends that a shipowner has no duty to provide a safe means of ingress and egress beyond the gangplank to a seaman who is off duty and ashore on his own personal time. I agree with the Court of Appeals treatment of this contention. "If a seaman on shore is in the course of his employment for purposes of Jones Act coverage, it seems contradictory to limit the ship owner’s liability for its negligence at the end of the gangplank. Such a strict delineation of the employer’s duty renders irrelevant the fact that a seaman is in the course of his employment even though off the ship.”