Helix Energy Solutions Grp., Inc. v. Gold

• Decision Date: 16 June 2017
• Docket Number: No. 16-0075,16-0075
• Parties: HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS GROUP, INC., Helix Well Ops, Inc., and Helix Offshore International, Inc., Petitioners, v. Kelvin GOLD, Respondent
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

522 S.W.3d 427

HELIX ENERGY SOLUTIONS GROUP, INC., Helix Well Ops, Inc., and Helix Offshore International, Inc., Petitioners,

v.Kelvin GOLD, Respondent

No. 16-0075

Supreme Court of Texas.

Argued January 11, 2017

OPINION DELIVERED: June 16, 2017

Christina F. Crozier, Lynne Liberato, Haynes and Boone, LLP, Houston, Callie Elizabeth Murphy, Schouest, Bamdas, Soshea & BenMaier P.L.L.C., New Orleans LA, Michael W. Hogue, Susan Noe Wilson, Schouest, Bamdas, Soshea & BenMaier P.L.L.C., Houston, Susan Noe Wilson, Bland & Partners, PLLC, Houston, for Petitioners.

Micajah Daniel Boatright, Kurt Brynilde Arnold, Arnold & Itkin, LLP, Houston, for Respondent.

Justice Devine delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Hecht, Justice Willett, Justice Guzman, and Justice Brown joined.

The Jones Act provides a compensation scheme designed to mitigate the unique perils faced by "seamen"—maritime workers with a substantial connection to a "vessel in navigation." Chandris v. Latsis , 515 U.S. 347, 357, 115 S.Ct. 2172, 132 L.Ed.2d 314 (1995). But without straightforward statutory definitions, and with courts left to wade into a historically murky body of admiralty law, an array of vexing (and inevitable) questions persists. What must a maritime worker do to bear an adequate connection to a vessel? What is a vessel in the first place? And how do we know whether a vessel remains in navigation when it exits the water for some time? Answering these questions has proven to be, as the Supreme Court has charitably described the endeavor, "a difficult task." Id. at 358, 115 S.Ct. 2172.

Despite recent clarifications on the subject, questions remain. Be that as it may, we are not without enough clarity to guide our resolution of today's case. That task requires us to determine whether a certain ship—taken out of service, subjected to a 20-month conversion process, and unable to engage in transportation during the entirety of the claimant's onboard employment—was "out of navigation" and thus outside the Jones Act. We must determine also whether that question can be answered as a matter of law.

We answer both questions in the affirmative; the vessel was out of navigation as a matter of law. We accordingly reverse the court of appeals, which found a fact question, and we reinstate the trial court's summary judgment in favor of the ship's owner.

I. Background

In August 2012, Helix Energy Solutions Group purchased the HELIX 534 for $85,000,000. Prior to the purchase, the 534 was laid up in a shipyard. And upon purchase, another vessel towed the 534 to the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore. The 534 served her previous owner as a drill ship, a ship that drills wells. But Helix purchased the 534 with plans to convert her into a well-intervention ship, a ship that services pre-existing offshore wells.

Work began upon the 534's arrival in Singapore. Due to the extent of the conversion, Helix turned the 534 over to the control of contractors at the shipyard for completion of the bulk of the overhaul; though, Helix employees assisted with minor repairs. The conversion involved, among other things, removing obsolete equipment, configuring and installing well-intervention equipment, and overhauling the engines, thrusters, generators, and in-line propulsion equipment. The work done on the propulsive components rendered the 534 unable to navigate on her own for a substantial portion of the conversion process.

Though Helix initially expected the conversion to take five or six months (ending in mid 2013), unanticipated work, labor issues, and trouble procuring certain parts delayed the conversion. In September 2013, with work still to be done, Helix dry-towed¹ the 534 from Singapore to Galveston, Texas. In April 2014, 20 months after work began, the 534 entered well-intervention service for the first time under Helix's control. In total, the 20-month conversion cost $115,000,000, or roughly 135% of the 534's purchase price.

Today's dispute involves a particular Helix employee, Kelvin Gold. In November 2012, near the beginning of the project, Helix hired Gold as an "able bodied seaman," anticipating that he would serve as an offshore worker. Consequently, Gold's responsibility was to familiarize himself with the craft and to assist with the overhaul (painting, cleaning, taking inventory, etc.). Gold served two alternating 28-day hitches between early December 2012 and March 2013, along with a partial hitch in late April 2013. During the entire time Gold worked aboard the 534 (almost five months), the ship lacked the ability to navigate on her own due to the overhaul of her engines.

Gold reported injuries suffered aboard the 534 in December 2012 and in April 2013. Gold then stopped work aboard the 534 in April 2013, and his employment ceased in November 2013. Helix paid Gold "maintenance and cure" benefits, benefits available to an injured Jones Act seaman. But Helix terminated the payments after Gold allegedly failed to follow his doctor's orders.

Gold then sued Helix and Helix's affiliated entities for additional maintenance-and-cure benefits as well as actual and punitive damages. Gold claimed these remedies under the Jones Act as a "seaman" aboard a "vessel in navigation." Helix disagreed that the Jones Act applied to Gold's lawsuit and moved for summary judgment on the ground that the 534, while undergoing a major overhaul, was not a vessel in navigation. The trial court agreed and granted Helix's motion.

Gold appealed, and the court of appeals reversed. 482 S.W.3d 638, 650 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2015). The court observed that Helix failed to "conclusively prove that the [534] was totally deactivated or out of service for an extended period of time before Gold's injury." Id. In turn, the court held, "A reasonable fact-finder could determine, based on the Helix 534's physical characteristics and activities, that the ship was designed to a practical degree for carrying people or things over water, and the Helix 534's use as a means of transportation on water was a practical possibility." Id.

We granted Helix's petition for review.

II. Standard of Review

We review a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Provident Life & Acc. Ins. Co. v. Knott , 128 S.W.3d 211, 215 (Tex. 2003). To prevail on a traditional motion for summary judgment, "a movant must show that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Sw. Elec. Power Co. v. Grant , 73 S.W.3d 211, 215 (Tex. 2002) (citing TEX. R. CIV. P. 166a(c) ). When a movant conclusively negates an essential element of a cause of action, the movant is entitled to summary judgment on that claim. Id.

Furthermore, "we take as true all evidence favorable to the nonmovant, and we indulge every reasonable inference and resolve any doubts in the nonmovant's favor." Id. But we cannot disregard "conclusive evidence"—that evidence upon which "reasonable people could not differ in their conclusions." City of Keller v. Wilson , 168 S.W.3d 802, 816 (Tex. 2005). Typically, evidence is conclusive when "it concerns physical facts that cannot be denied" or "when a party admits it is true." Id. at 815.

Here, Helix bore the burden to conclusively negate the "seaman" element of Gold's Jones Act claim.

III. The Jones Act

The Jones Act provides that,

A seaman injured in the course of employment ... may elect to bring a civil action at law, with the right of trial by jury, against the employer. Laws of the United States regulating recovery for personal injury to, or death of, a railway employee apply to an action under this section.

46 U.S.C. § 30104. The heightened legal protection under the Jones Act "grow[s] out of the status of the seaman and his peculiar relationship to the vessel, and as a feature of the maritime law compensating or offsetting the special hazards and disadvantages to which they who go down to sea in ships are subjected." Chandris , 515 U.S. at 355, 115 S.Ct. 2172 (internal quotations and citations omitted).

So who qualifies as a seaman? The Jones Act does not define the term, which left courts to apply the "general maritime law [that existed] at the time the Jones Act was enacted." Id. Alas, the traditional admiralty definition was unhelpful; a seaman was "a mariner of any degree, one who lives his life upon the sea." Warner v. Goltra , 293 U.S. 155, 157, 55 S.Ct. 46, 79 L.Ed. 254 (1934). Fortunately, Congress gave some context to the term in 1927 when it enacted the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), which provides coverage to "land-based maritime workers but which also explicitly excludes from its coverage ‘a master or member of a crew of any vessel.’ " Chandris , 515 U.S. at 355, 115 S.Ct. 2172 (quoting 44 Stat. (part 2) 1424, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 902(3)(G) ). In effect, Congress's creation of "mutually exclusive" compensation regimes meant that the LHWCA's exclusion actually helped to define the term "seaman" in the Jones Act—i.e., a Jones Act seaman must be a member of a crew of a vessel. See McDermott Int'l, Inc. v. Wilander , 498 U.S. 337, 347, 111 S.Ct. 807, 112 L.Ed.2d 866 (1991) (explaining the relationship between the acts). But not just any vessel will do. The Supreme Court later clarified that a Jones Act seaman must bear a satisfactory connection to a "vessel in navigation." Roper v. United States , 368 U.S. 20, 22–23, 82 S.Ct. 5, 7 L.Ed.2d 1 (1961).

After decades of navigating a labyrinth of definitions and admiralty buzzwords, the Supreme Court identified two basic components of Jones Act coverage: the maritime worker must (1) be a crew member who does the "ship's work" and (2) have a substantial connection to a vessel in navigation. Chandris , 515 U.S. at 368, 115 S.Ct. 2172. But, like most aspects of admiralty law, there is more to this standard than meets the eye.

A. Crew Member Who Does the Ship's Work

The Supreme Court has clarified that the worker's duties must "contribut[e] to the function of a vessel or to the...