Barrios v. Engine & Gas Compressor Services, Inc.
| Decision Date | 05 March 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-3194,81-3194 |
| Citation | 669 F.2d 350 |
| Parties | Dane Elliott BARRIOS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ENGINE & GAS COMPRESSOR SERVICES, INC. and Gulf Oil Corporation, Defendants-Appellees. Summary Calendar. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
John F. McKay, Baton Rouge, La., for plaintiff-appellant.
Alan A. Zaunbrecher, New Orleans, La., for Engine & Gas Compressor Services, Inc.
Edward J. Koehl, New Orleans, La., for Gulf Oil Corp.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before GEE, GARZA and TATE, Circuit Judges.
The appellant, Dane E. Barrios, instituted this suit pursuant to the Jones Act and general maritime law against Engine and Gas Compressor Services ("Engine & Gas") and Gulf Oil Corporation ("Gulf") for injuries sustained while he was servicing a compressor station owned by Gulf at its Quarantine Bay station, a fixed platform located within Louisiana's territorial waters. In a supplemental and amended complaint, Barrios instituted a tort action in diversity against Gulf pursuant to L.S.A.-C.C. 2315-2322.
Barrios was employed by Engine & Gas as a compressor engine mechanic and foreman. Engine & Gas had contracted with Gulf to provide repair and maintenance service on Gulf's compressor stations. Barrios worked on Gulf compressor engines at three locations in the East Delta area-Quarantine Bay, Black Bay, and Grand Bay. The accident that gives rise to this suit occurred on the Quarantine Bay station, a permanently fixed platform built on pilings. The Black Bay and Grand Bay station, on which plaintiff occasionally performed compressor maintenance and repair work, were constructed on land and floated out to their bay locations, where they were then fastened to the floor of the bay with clusters of wooden and steel pilings. Barrios was transported from station to station by crew boats. He was injured on March 21, 1977, while repairing a compressor on the Quarantine Bay fixed platform. He attempted to remove a plug from a compressor flowline that had not been completely depressurized and was struck in the head by an unknown object when the pressure was unexpectedly released.
In order to recover under the Jones Act, Barrios must have seaman status. He claims that by virtue of his work aboard the other compressor stations, which had been floated to their locations, and because he performed various tasks on the crewboats that transported him to his work sites, he had seaman status. After considerable discovery, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on the basis that Barrios lacked seaman's status and that the diversity claim against Gulf was barred because of the lack of complete diversity or, alternatively, that under the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act Gulf was the "statutory employer" of Barrios. Following a hearing on the motion, the district court granted appellees' motion and dismissed the suit, stating that appellant was not a Jones Act seaman. In addition, the district court took jurisdiction over the state claim and determined that Gulf was Barrios' statutory employer, which barred the tort action.
Resolution of this issue lies in the test as to the definition of a "seaman." In order to qualify for coverage under the Jones Act, a worker claiming seaman status must satisfy three criteria:
(1) he must have a more or less permanent connection with (2) a vessel in navigation and (3) the capacity in which he is employed or the duties which he performs must contribute to the function of the vessel, the accomplishment of its mission or its operation or welfare in terms of its maintenance during its movement or during anchorage for its future trips.
Watkins v. Pentzien, Inc., 660 F.2d 604, 606 (5th Cir. 1981). Whether a person is a seaman under these criteria is normally a question for the jury. Id. The issue may be resolved by summary judgment, however, where the undisputed material facts establish as a matter of law that an individual is not a Jones Act seaman. Id.
Here a resolution of this issue is predicated upon a determination of whether (a) the compressor stations upon which Barrios was employed were vessels in navigation and (b) his performance of any tasks on the crewboat that transported him between stations "contributed to the function of the vessel, the accomplishment of its mission or its operation or welfare ...."
In Blanchard v. Engine & Gas Compressor Services, Inc., 575 F.2d 1140 (5th Cir. 1978), this court considered a claim involving Gulf's compressor stations, similar to those described here, and concluded that the buildings comprising the compressor stations were not Jones Act vessels. There the court affirmed the district court's summary judgment on the seaman's claim and stated the applicable standard for determining whether a special-purpose craft is a vessel is consideration of "the purpose for which the craft is constructed and the business in which it is engaged." Id. at 1142.
After applying this analysis to the compressor stations in Blanchard, the court concluded that the "purpose and business" of the compressor buildings mounted on submersible barges had nothing to do with being Jones Act vessels. Id. at 1143. The court noted that Gulf did not intend to move these structures on a regular basis, as is done with submersible drilling rigs. "In sum, we believe, '(m)ere flotation on water does not constitute a structure a vessel.' " Id. at 1143.
In this case, the manner of attachment of these compressor stations in the gulf is similar to those in Blanchard. The station on which Barrios was injured was built on location and secured by permanent pilings. The other two compressor stations here were built on inland shipyards, floated to the desired locations, and sunk on a previously laid shell bed. Several clusters of pilings were then driven around the submerged barges to hold them in place. No navigational equipment was maintained aboard the sunken barges.
There is no showing that the stations at Grand Bay or Black Bay were ever moved, despite Barrios' conclusional allegation that he thought that they were scheduled to be moved, nor is there any showing that they were intended for movement on a regular basis. Even if one of the compressor stations had actually been moved, Barrios could not prevail on this issue. In Blanchard, one of the compressor stations had been moved; however, the court noted that no one intended for it to move on a regular basis, judging from the manner in which it was secured in position. Id. at 1143. It is well established that fixed platforms like the ones described here are not vessels, see Callahan v. Fluor Ocean Services, Inc., 482 F.2d 1350, 1351 (5th Cir. 1973), and therefore Barrios cannot recover under the general maritime law for his work on the compression stations.
Barrios further argues that if the compressor stations are not Jones Act "vessels," he was nonetheless a seaman because he regularly rode from platform to platform on crewboats and "performed a substantial amount of work" on the crewboats that "contributed to the function of the vessels." However, there is no showing that Barrios' work aboard them was other than transitory and incidental to his employment as a mechanic on the compressor stations.
"(T)he relationship between the individual and an identifiable vessel or group of vessels must be substantial in point and time, not spasmodic." Guidry v. Continental Oil, 640 F.2d 523, 529 (5th Cir. 1981); see also Callahan, 482 F.2d at 1352 (). "Evidence of 'sporadic contacts for brief periods of time' with water-borne vessels is insufficient to support a jury finding of seaman status." Holland v. Allied Structural Steel Co., 539 F.2d 476, 484 (5th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1105, 97 S.Ct. 1136, 51 L.Ed.2d 557 (1977). To perform a substantial part of his work aboard a vessel, it must be shown that he performed a significant part of his work aboard the vessel with at least some degree of regularity and continuity. Id. Thus, a " 'claimant (must) have more than a transitory connection' with a vessel or a specific group of vessels." Ardoin v. J. Ray McDermott & Co., 641 F.2d 277, 281 (5th Cir. 1981).
An examination of the pretrial record indicates that Barrios rode the crewboats for two hours per day at most and that his sole purpose in riding them was to be transported to work sites...
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