Jones v. A. C. Steel Pier Co., C. P. No. A-18046.

• Decision Date: 18 March 1947
• Docket Number: C. P. No. A-18046.
• Citation: 52 A.2d 48
• Parties: JONES v. A. C. STEEL PIER CO. et al.
• Court: New Jersey Department of Labor-Workmen's Compensation Bureau

52 A.2d 48

JONES

v.A. C. STEEL PIER CO. et al.

C. P. No. A-18046.

New Jersey Department of Labor-Workmen's Compensation Bureau.

March 18, 1947.

Proceeding under the Workmen's Compensation Act by Ruby Jones, opposed by A. C. Steel Pier Company and others to recover death benefits. On defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

Motion denied.

Alexander K. Blatt, of Atlantic City, for petitioner.

Harry Miller, of Atlantic City, for respondent.

KRAFT, Deputy Commissioner.

The petition in this case seeks compensation for the wife and daughter of Frank R. Jones, who, it is alleged in the petition, sustained an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment on July 19, 1945, as the result of which he died two days later.

A stipulation of facts was filed, from which it appears that the Atlantic Steel Pier Company was engaged in operating an amusement enterprise and contracted with the other respondents to furnish a ‘water circus' act, and that the decedent while operating a motor boat in connection with said ‘water circus' act, fell overboard into the Atlantic Ocean, sustaining the injuries from which he died.

The question submitted for determination upon such stipulation on motion to dismiss is whether or not this Court has jurisdiction, the respondent contending the State Compensation Act is not applicable and any relief must be sought under Federal Statutes. The petitioner, of course, contends this Court has jurisdiction.

The question of jurisdiction has long been a perplexing one in cases of this nature. I will refer just briefly to several of our more important decisions which I deem pertinent in connection with the determination of the issue now at hand.

In the case of March v. Vulcan Iron Works, 102 N.J.L. 337, 132 A. 89, a man fell from a ladder leading from the deck of a ship in dry dock to the floor of the dry dock. The dry dock was in navigable waters and the ship was there for repairs, and the Court of Errors and Appeals determined that this bureau had no jurisdiction. Later this Bureau, following the decision in the March case, determined that a person falling off a yacht in the Hudson River was not within the scope of the State Compensation Act, Novak v. Union Petroleum Products Co., 200 A. 738, 16 N.J.Misc. 393.

In Davis v. Department of Labor and Industries of the State of Washington, 317 U.S. 249, 63 S.Ct. 225, 87 L.Ed. 246, the facts were briefly these: A drawbridge was being dismantled in the State of Washington over navigable waters. A tug, a derrick and a barge, all licensed by the United States Bureau of Navigation, were used in the dismantling of the drawbridge. The steel beams were lowered by the derrick to the barge which was moored to the bridge, and then the barge was towed up the river to a point where the beams were being stored, and the barge brought back again, and so forth. A workman on the barge, while beams were being lowered, was killed. Compensation was sought under the state statute and after much litigation the matter reached the United States Supreme Court, which held that the state court had jurisdiction.

In the more recent case of DeGraw v. Todd Shipyards Co., 134 N.J.L. 315, 47 A.2d 338, decided after the opinion of the Davis case (supra), it was determined that a workman injured in removing pipe lines in a ship in dry dock necessary for the recoversion of that ship from one type of usage to another, was entitled to compensation benefits under the State Act and that relief was not exclusive under the Federal Statute. The principle enunciated is where the...