Court Opinion

ID: 9477035
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:11:36.512135+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:38.721518
License: Public Domain

HODGES, Chief District Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. The Court’s conclusion that Trans/American was an agent and not an independent contractor of the ship owner embraces a theory that was not urged upon the District Court; is not necessary to a decision in the case;1 and tends to obliterate the law of the Circuit — indeed, the law everywhere — governing the jurisprudential analysis which should be made in differentiating agents and employees from independent contractors.2
I must also disagree with the Court’s ultimate result. “From its dawn, the maritime law has recognized the seaman’s right to maintenance and cure for injuries suffered in the course of his service to his vessel, whether occurring on sea or on land.” O’Donnell v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 318 U.S. 36, 41-2, 63 S.Ct. 488, 491, 87 L.Ed. 596 (1943). Here, beyond any question, Archer was a seaman in the service of the vessel at all times he was aboard ship regardless of the identity of his employer. As noted by the majority at the outset of the Court’s opinion, therefore, the ultimate question in the case is simply whether or not Archer was “in the service of the ship” at the time of his accident and resulting injury. The Court concludes that he was, relying by analogy upon Aguilar v. Standard Oil Co., 318 U.S. 724, 63 S.Ct. 930, 87 L.Ed. 1107 (1943), and its progeny establishing the right of a blue water seaman3 to maintenance and cure while on “shore leave” for personal recuperation. Although the issue is both novel and diffi*1576cult, I do not believe that the “shore leave” analogy is appropriate in this case.
In January, 1984, the M/S Scandinavian Sun was taken out of service for its annual dry docking during the period January 9 through January 23. Archer signed off the ship’s articles4 and left the vessel at its home port in Miami. However, his then existing employment contract with Trans/American had not expired; and, before departing Miami for his home in Jamaica, he entered into a new agreement providing for a raise in pay (from $450.00 to $600.00 per month) effective January 23, 1984. He then travelled to Jamaica for what became, in effect, an unpaid two week vacation between voyages. To be sure, as emphasized by the majority, his contract required that he return to Miami and check in with Trans/American on January 21; but he was not paid and was not due to rejoin the ship until it returned to service on January 23. Indeed, it is significant that his contract of employment did not identify any specific ship by name; and, although the parties clearly contemplated that Archer would return to the M/S Scandinavian Sun, it is equally clear that Trans/American had the legal right under the employment contract as of the time of Archer’s accident on January 22 to assign (or reassign) him to any other ship it pleased.5
In my view, therefore, it cannot fairly be said on these facts that Archer was on “shore leave” at any time between January 9 and January 23. The vessel was not on a voyage calling in a distant or foreign port; it was between voyages and was due to reenter service in its home port. Archer had signed off the ship and never signed back on. Indeed, he could have been assigned prior to January 23 to work on an entirely different vessel. He may well have been an employee of Trans/American for some purposes during that crucial period given his contract of employment and the requirement that he check in on January 21, but he was not in the service of the ship.

. It is the seaman’s relationship to the vessel, not the identity of his employer, that generates his right to maintenance and cure. The Appel-lee himself correctly states that: “The fact of an agency relationship between the entities is ... irrelevant to the case. It is the seaman’s employer who is liable for maintenance and cure, and not the shipowner where the two are not the same. Mahramas v. American Expert Isbrandtsen Lines, Inc., 475 F.2d 165 (2d Cir.1973) (cruise ship concessionaire owed maintenance and cure to its employee who worked aboard ship, not shipowner)." Appellee's brief, p. 13.

. See, e.g., Pitts v. Shell Oil Company, 463 F.2d 331 (5th Cir.1972); Marvel v. United States, 719 F.2d 1507 (10th Cir.1983); Trustees of Sabine Area Carpenters' Health & Welfare Fund v. Don Lightfoot Home Builder, Inc., 704 F.2d 822 (5th Cir.1983); Newcomb v. North East Insurance Company, 721 F.2d 1016 (5th Cir.1983); Stone v. Pinkerton Farms, Inc., 741 F.2d 941 (7th Cir. 1984); Building Material and Dump Truck Drivers, etc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 669 F.2d 759 (D.C.Cir.1981), all discussing in a variety of legal settings the numerous factors to be considered in deciding agent/independent contractor issues.

.The term “blue water seaman” refers to members of the crew who live aboard the ship and serves to differentiate them from seamen who live ashore. The difference is legally important because a blue water seaman is entitled to recover for an injury suffered during shore leave while on personal business; but a land-based seaman who has a shoreside injury must prove a causal connection between the injury and the performance of his duties. Liner v. J.B. Talley and Co., Inc., 618 F.2d 327, 332 (5th Cir.1980). It follows that other cases involving land-based seamen who are injured in automobile accidents (such as Daughdrill v. Diamond M. Drilling Company, 447 F.2d 781 (5th Cir.) cert. denied 405 U.S. 997, 92 S.Ct. 1261, 31 L.Ed.2d 466 (1971)), do not help in resolving this case.

. Though not directly employed by the ship owner, it is undisputed that when food and beverage personnel sign on the ship and commence their service to the vessel they become members of the crew and subservient to the authority of the vessel's officers.

. In his brief Archer states that he "... was a blue water seaman whose only home for the year to come was to be the M/V Scandinavian Sun or such other skip as'Defendant might assign him to" (Appellee's Brief, p. 16, emphasis supplied).