548
OCTOBER TERM, 1996
Syllabus
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit
No. 95-1621. Argued January 13, 1997—Decided May 12, 1997
Respondent Papai was injured while painting the housing structure of the tug Pt. Barrow. Petitioner Harbor Tug & Barge Co., the tug's operator, had hired him to do the work, which was expected to last one day and would not involve sailing with the vessel. Papai had been employed by Harbor Tug on 12 previous occasions in the 21/2 months before his injury, receiving those jobs through the Inland Boatman's Union (IBU) hiring hall. He had been getting short-term jobs with various vessels through the hiring hall for about 21/4 years. Most of those were deckhand work, which Papai said involved manning the lines on- and off-board vessels while they dock or undock. Papai sued Harbor Tug, claiming, inter alia, negligence under the Jones Act, and his wife joined as a plaintiff, claiming loss of consortium. The District Court granted Harbor Tug summary judgment upon finding that Papai did not enjoy seaman status under the Jones Act, and it later confirmed that adjudication. The Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded for a trial of, among other things, Papai's seaman status and his corresponding Jones Act claim. Based on Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis, 515 U. S. 347, the court described the relevant inquiry as not whether Papai had a permanent connection with the vessel but whether his relationship with a vessel or an identifiable group of vessels was substantial in duration and nature, and found that this required consideration of his employment's total circumstances. The court determined that a reasonable jury could conclude that Papai satisfied that test, for if the type of work a maritime worker customarily performs would entitle him to seaman status if performed for a single employer, he should not be deprived of that status simply because the industry operates under a daily assignment, rather than a permanent employment, system.
Held: 1. Because the issue whether the record permits a reasonable jury to conclude that Papai is a Jones Act seaman is here resolved in the employer's favor, this Court does not reach the question whether an administrative ruling for an employee on his claim of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act coverage bars his claim of seaman status in a Jones Act suit. P. 550.
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