Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Division of Litton Systems, Inc. v. Morgan, 76-1880
| Decision Date | 20 April 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-1880,76-1880 |
| Citation | 1977 A.M.C. 987,551 F.2d 61 |
| Parties | INGALLS SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION, DIVISION OF LITTON SYSTEMS, INC., Petitioner, v. Dorothy T. MORGAN, Ernest W. Morgan, Jr., Timothy E. Morgan, Claimants-Respondents, Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor, Respondents. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Eldon L. Bolton, Jr., Gulfport, Miss., D. Knox White, George E. Morse, George W. Williams, Jr., Senior Staff Atty., Pascagoula, Miss., Charles E. Foster, Beverly Hills, Cal., for petitioner.
Bobby G. O'Barr, Biloxi, Miss., Laurie M. Streeter, Associate Sol., William J. Kilberg, Sol., Linda L. Carroll, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, D. C., for claimants-respondents.
Petition for Review of an Order of the Benefits Review Board (Mississippi Case).
Before MORGAN and RONEY, Circuit Judges, and KING *, District Judge.
Petitioner Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation appeals from a decision of the Benefits Review Board, U. S. Department of Labor, affirming an award of benefits to respondents under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901 et seq. Respondents' decedent, Ernest W. Morgan, worked as a ship fitter helper apprentice in a fabrication shop in the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. Workers in the shop cut, shape, tack and weld steel parts later used for construction and repair of ships. Morgan died when a steel plate he was cleaning fell on him.
Ingalls questions whether, under the terms of the Act, Morgan was a covered employee, 33 U.S.C. § 902(3), working on a maritime situs, 33 U.S.C. § 903(a). If he was, Ingalls suggests the Act is unconstitutional. These issues are controlled by Halter Marine Fabricators Inc. v. Nulty, decided with Jacksonville Shipyards Inc. v. Perdue, 539 F.2d 533 (5th Cir. 1976), petition for cert. filed 45 U.S.L.W. 3514 (Jan. 25, 1977). Nulty upheld an award of compensation benefits to a worker in a shipyard fabrication shop and determined the Act so applied was constitutional. Nulty was covered, the Court held, because he was "directly involved in an ongoing shipbuilding operation." 539 F.2d at 544.
Ingalls suggests three possible reasons for distinguishing the status of Morgan from the status of Nulty. First, at the time of his injury, Morgan was only cleaning, while Nulty was constructing. Because cleaning was a necessary prerequisite to the fabrication of the steel for use in shipbuilding, this...
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