Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U.S. 347, 34 (1995)

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380

CHANDRIS, INC. v. LATSIS

Stevens, J., concurring in judgment

leges, duties, and liabilities in the sea-service, which do not belong to home pursuits.' " Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U. S. 85, 104-105 (1946) (dissenting opinion) (citations omitted).

This exposure to the perils of the sea is what separates seamen from longshoremen, who are subject to entirely different, and usually less advantageous, remedies for injuries suffered in the course of their employment. Chief Justice Stone continued:

"It is for these reasons that throughout the long history of the maritime law the right to maintenance and cure, and later the right to indemnity for injuries attributable to unseaworthiness, have been confined to seamen. Longshoremen and harbor workers are in a class very different from seamen, and one not calling for the creation of extraordinary obligations of the vessel or its owner in their favor, more than other classes of essentially land workers. Unlike members of the crew of a vessel they do not go to sea; they are not subject to the rigid discipline of the sea; they are not prevented by law or ship's discipline from leaving the vessel on which they may be employed; they have the same recourse as land workers to avoid the hazards to which they are exposed, to ascertain the cause of their injury and to prove it in court." Id., at 105.

In some cases, workers who labor on ships close to shore may face sufficient exposure to the perils of the sea to merit seaman status. The determination of seaman status will depend on the particular facts of the case. See, e. g., Desper v. Starved Rock Ferry Co., 342 U. S. 187 (1952); 4 Senko v.

4 In Desper, we held that a workman on a moored barge was not a "seaman" at the time of his death even though "he was a probable navigator in the near future." 342 U. S., at 191. We noted that "[t]he many cases turning upon the question whether an individual was a 'seaman' demon-

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