Reynolds v. Ingalls Shipbuilding Div., Litton Systems, Inc.

• Decision Date: 25 April 1986
• Docket Number: No. 85-4193,85-4193
• Citation: 788 F.2d 264
• Parties: Richard A. REYNOLDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INGALLS SHIPBUILDING DIVISION, LITTON SYSTEMS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 264

788 F.2d 264

1986 A.M.C. 2839

Richard A. REYNOLDS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. INGALLS SHIPBUILDING DIVISION, LITTON SYSTEMS, INC. Defendant-Appellee.

No. 85-4193.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

April 25, 1986.

Judy M. Guice, Paul S. Minor, Biloxi, Miss., for plaintiff-appellant.

Karl Wiesenburg, William F. Jordan, Litton Systems, Pascagoula, Miss., for defendant-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before GOLDBERG, RANDALL and JOHNSON, Circuit Judges.

RANDALL, Circuit Judge:

Richard Reynolds appeals from a decision granting summary judgment for the defendant. Because we find that Reynolds was covered by the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. Secs. 901-950, and because we find that the Act provides Reynolds' exclusive remedy, we affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND.

Richard Reynolds worked as a shipfitter for Litton Systems, Inc. ("Litton") at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. A contract between Litton and the United States Navy called for Litton to construct a ship, the USS Ticonderoga, and the contract further required that Litton carry out certain sea trials prior to handing the ship over to the Navy. Litton took the ship to sea in May, 1982, to execute the required sea trials. Reynolds volunteered to sail on the ship, and he was assigned to the steward's department where his duties were to wash and stow the mess utensils.

Reynolds was washing pots and pans when the ship began to execute high speed turns. The maneuvers caused soapy water to spill out of the sink and onto the deck where Reynolds was standing. Reynolds slipped in the soapy water and injured his knee. Reynolds brought suit to recover for his knee injury, predicating his action on four grounds: negligence of Litton under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. Sec. 688; negligence of Litton under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, (hereinafter "LHWCA" or the "Act"), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 905(b); ¹ unseaworthiness of the Ticonderoga; and general maritime negligence. Initially, a federal magistrate granted Litton's motion for partial summary judgment, dismissing all of Reynolds' claims except the Sec. 905(b) action. Subsequently, the district court also granted Litton's motion for summary judgment on the Sec. 905(b) action.

Reynolds applied for and has received compensation from Litton under the LHWCA. He brings this appeal, however, in an effort to recover additional compensation. Reynolds offers two alternative proposals. First, he contends that the district court erred in concluding that Reynolds was covered at all by the LHWCA. Reynolds' position is that there is a disputed question of fact as to whether Reynolds' injury occurred within the jurisdictional limits of the LHWCA: that is, whether his injury occurred while the Ticonderoga was on the "navigable waters of the United States." 33 U.S.C. Sec. 903(a). ² Reynolds contends that if the injury occurred while the ship was outside the three-mile territorial limit, then the LHWCA does not apply, meaning that Reynolds is not covered under the LHWCA and is free to sue Litton under a theory of general maritime negligence.

If the court should determine that the LHWCA does apply, however, then Reynolds' second argument becomes relevant. The compensation Reynolds has received under the LHWCA provides his exclusive remedy unless he falls within an exception delineated by Sec. 905(b) of the Act. Section 905, entitled "Exclusiveness of Liability," provides that, under some circumstances, employees injured by a vessel's negligence may bring suit against the vessel. ³ In addition, the Act defines "vessel" as "any vessel ... said vessel's owner, owner pro hac vice, agent, operator, charter or bare boat charterer, master, officer, or crew member." 33 U.S.C. Sec. 902(21). Reynolds' argument proceeds on the basis of two fundamental assertions: that Reynolds, at the time he was injured, was not engaged in "shipbuilding" activity but was rather performing duties of a steward; and that Litton was an "operator" of the Ticonderoga and therefore amenable to suit under Sec. 905(b) as the "vessel."

We conclude that Reynolds was a longshoreman covered by the LHWCA and that Sec. 905(b) specifically bars Reynolds' action against Litton. As a result, the compensation which Reynolds has received under the LHWCA is his exclusive remedy.

II. JONES ACT STATUS.

Reynolds argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment for the defendant on the matter of Reynolds' Jones Act seaman status. The question of seaman status under the Jones Act is generally a factual issue best suited for resolution by a jury. Ardoin v. J. Ray McDermott & Co., 641 F.2d 277, 280 (5th Cir.1981), appeal after remand, 684 F.2d 335 (5th Cir. 1982). However, when the undisputed material facts establish beyond question as a matter of law the lack of seaman status, summary judgment is appropriate. In this case, the facts relevant to the determination of seaman status are undisputed, and those facts compel the conclusion that, as a matter of law, Reynolds was not a seaman. ⁴

Sitting en banc, this court recently reviewed the principles relevant to determining seaman status, originally distilled in Offshore Company v. Robison, 266 F.2d 769 (5th Cir.1959). See Barrett v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc., 781 F.2d 1067 (5th Cir.1986) (en banc). A worker is a seaman if (1) "the employee was assigned permanently to a vessel or performed a substantial part of his work on the vessel," and (2) "the employee contributed to the function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission." Barrett, 781 F.2d at 1073, 1074. We explained in Barrett that the second Robison prong is easily satisfied since various "Supreme Court cases require such a broad definition of 'aid to navigation.' " Barrett, 781 F.2d 1067, at 1073. However, it is clear in the present case that Reynolds cannot satisfy the first prong of the Robison test since the Ticonderoga was not a "vessel in navigation." Without a vessel in navigation, however, there can be no Jones Act coverage.

In Williams v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 452 F.2d 955 (5th Cir.1971), this court held that a ship engaged in sea trials makes no warranty of seaworthiness; the ship is undergoing trials precisely to determine what, if any, additional work needs to be done. More important for our purposes here, a ship undergoing sea trials is not "in navigation" for purposes of the Jones Act. 452 F.2d at 958. Consequently, "[a] shipbuilder's worker [such as Reynolds] assisting in the building and ultimate commissioning of a launched but uncompleted vessel floating or maneuvering in navigable waters is not a seaman within the meaning of the Jones Act, because his vessel is not yet an instrumentality of commerce--private or public--and is therefore not 'in navigation.' " 452 F.2d at 958 (emphasis added); see also Bouvier v. Krenz, 702 F.2d 89, 91 n. 3 (5th Cir.1983) (adhering to Williams and explaining that "participati[on] in sea trials does not confer seaman status"). Reynolds simply was not a Jones Act seaman. He was a shipfitter covered under the LHWCA who volunteered to sail on the Ticonderoga during her brief sea trials.

III. APPLICABILITY OF THE LHWCA.

Neither Reynolds nor Litton disputes that the LHWCA applies to shipfitters such as Reynolds. To hold that the Act ceased to apply merely because Reynolds was injured while the Ticonderoga was more than three miles offshore would be to impart an exceedingly parochial meaning to a statute which is to be construed liberally to protect injured maritime workers.

Reynolds argues that since his injury occurred while the Ticonderoga was on the high seas, he falls outside the coverage of the LHWCA. ⁵ The LHWCA extends only to the "navigable waters of the United States," and Reynolds asserts that the high seas are not navigable waters of the United States. We conclude, however, that navigable waters of the United States may include the high seas, and that both the legislative history of the LHWCA as well as the congressional objectives underlying the Act mandate that the Act apply to Reynolds.

A. Navigable Waters of the United States.

We begin with the language of the Act itself. "[C]ompensation shall be payable ... if the disability or death results from an injury occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier ... or other adjoining area customarily used by an employer in loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel)." 33 U.S.C. Sec. 903(a). The Act does not define the phrase "navigable waters of the United States," but the phrase has been often construed in admiralty cases. See, e.g., The Plymouth, 70 U.S. (3 Wall.) 20, 33, 18 L.Ed. 125 (1865) (referring to "the high seas, or other navigable waters within admiralty cognizance"); The Eagle, 75 U.S. (8 Wall.) 15, 20-21, 19 L.Ed. 365 (1868) ("public navigable waters" include "lakes, and waters connecting them, ... the high seas, bays, and rivers navigable from the sea"); The Daniel Ball, 77 U.S. (10 Wall.) 557, 563 (1871) 19 L.Ed. 999 (waters "constitute navigable waters of the United States within the meaning of acts of Congress ... when they form in their ordinary condition by themselves, or by uniting with other waters, a continued highway over which commerce is or may be carried on with other States or foreign countries"); The Montello, 78 U.S. (11 Wall.) 411, 415, 20 L.Ed. 191 (1871) (water "can only be deemed a navigable water of the United States when it forms ... a highway" "over which commerce is or may be carried on with other States or foreign countries"); Ex parte Easton, 95 U.S. (5 Otto) 68, 72, 24 L.Ed. 373 (1877) ("Public navigable waters ... of course include the high seas"); Atlantic Transport Co. v. Imbrovek, 234 U.S. 52, 59, 34 S.Ct. 733, 58 L.Ed.1208 (1914) (referring to "the high seas or other...