Stowers v. Consolidated Rail Corp.

• Decision Date: 06 April 1993
• Docket Number: No. 92-3177,92-3177
• Parties: George R. STOWERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 292

985 F.2d 292

1993 A.M.C. 2992

George R. STOWERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 92-3177.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued Nov. 10, 1992.

Decided Feb. 8, 1993.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc

Denied April 6, 1993.

Joel Levin, Marshall I. Nurenberg (argued and briefed), Nurenberg, Plevin, Heller & McCarthy, Cleveland, OH, for plaintiff-appellant.

William F. Gibson (argued and briefed), Gallagher, Sharp, Fulton & Norman, Cleveland, OH, for defendant-appellee.

Before: JONES and RYAN, Circuit Judges; and BROWN, Senior Circuit Judge.

RYAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff George R. Stowers appeals the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant Consolidated Rail (ConRail) in this negligence action brought under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. §§ 51 et seq. The district court ordered summary judgment on the ground that the action is not within the district court's subject matter jurisdiction because Stowers's exclusive remedy against his employer is under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 901 et seq.

The issues on appeal are whether Stowers was a "maritime employee" within the meaning of the LHWCA; whether the area where plaintiff was injured is a "covered situs" under the LHWCA; and whether ConRail is a "maritime employer" under the LHWCA. We conclude that Stowers was not an employee engaged in "maritime employment" as defined by the LHWCA, and that he has no cause of action, therefore, under the LHWCA. Accordingly, we shall reverse the decision of the district court and remand with instructions to permit the plaintiff to proceed pursuant to the FELA.

I.

George Stowers began working as an engineer and fireman for ConRail in 1950. In 1989, he was transferred to ConRail's Ashtabula Harbor Yard in Ashtabula, Ohio, to work as a locomotive engineer for a ConRail switching crew. Harbor Yard is a railroad switching yard that services two loading dock companies, ConRail Coal Dock Company and Pinney Dock Company. ConRail owns the yard, the switching facilities, and the ConRail Coal Dock Company.

During the period in question, railroad cars filled with coal were brought to the yard via the railroad. Once the coal-filled cars reached the yard, Stowers, as the locomotive engineer of the switchyard crew, reassembled the cars to make up new trains that he then pulled to the docks. At the dock, Stowers would lock the coal-filled cars into mechanical "dumpers," and ConRail Coal Dock employees would operate the dumpers to dump coal onto the conveyor belts that carried the coal directly to the ships. Stowers would then pull the empty cars back to the yard. In addition, when incoming ships loaded with iron ore arrived, Stowers would bring a train of empty cars to the dock where Pinney Dock employees would fill the rail cars with iron ore. Stowers, or members of his crew, would then haul the loaded cars back to the yard. All of the loading equipment was operated and maintained by coal dock employees. Stowers's only contact with the loading equipment was to position rail cars in the dumpers and to haul them away.

Stowers also worked on the yard's "back track," an area of the yard used for train classification and separating railroad cars in need of repair. On March 21, 1991, while working in the back track area, Stowers was injured when his locomotive rode over a portable derailer while he was separating rail cars in need of repairs.

Stowers filed suit against his employer ConRail under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. §§ 51 et seq., to recover for his work-related injuries. ConRail moved for summary judgment on the basis that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the dispute because Stowers's exclusive remedy was under the Longshore Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901 et seq. The district court found that although Stowers was a railroad employee, he was engaged in "maritime employment," as defined under the LHWCA, because he was an "integral and essential" part of the loading and unloading of the vessels. The district court also found that the harbor yard, including the back track, was a "maritime situs" under the LHWCA. Consequently, the court ruled that Stowers's cause of action arose under the LHWCA, which provided his exclusive remedy. The court granted summary judgment for ConRail, and Stowers filed this timely appeal.

II.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. EEOC v. University of Detroit, 904 F.2d 331, 334 (6th Cir.1990).

The LHWCA provides the exclusive remedy for an employee who is subject to the Act's provisions and who is injured on the job. 33 U.S.C. § 905(a). LHWCA claims must be brought through an administrative procedure, with appeals heard by administrative law judges. 33 U.S.C. § 919 et seq. Federal district courts have jurisdiction to enforce the ALJ orders but lack jurisdiction to adjudicate initial LHWCA claims. 33 U.S.C. § 921(d).

The LHWCA extends coverage to all employees, including railroad employees, if the following four elements are met:

1) the injured person must be injured in the course of his employment, 33 U.S.C. § 902(2);

2) his employer must have employees who are employed in maritime employment, § 902(4);

3) the injury must occur "upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or other adjoining area customarily used by an employer in loading, unloading, repairing, dismantling, or building a vessel)," § 903(a); and

4) the employee who is injured within that area must be engaged in maritime employment, § 902(3).

Chesapeake & Ohio R.R. Co. v. Schwalb, 493 U.S. 40, 45, 110 S.Ct. 381, 384, 107 L.Ed.2d 278 (1989). The Supreme Court has required that these elements be "liberally construed" so that coverage under the LHWCA is extended to all workers on the maritime situs who are involved in the "essential or integral elements of the loading and unloading of the vessels." Id. at 46, 110 S.Ct. at 385.

The parties do not dispute that Stowers's injury occurred in the course of his employment. However, they dispute whether Stowers was engaged in "maritime employment"; whether ConRail was an "employer" as defined by the LHWCA; and whether the area where Stowers was injured was a "situs" covered by the LHWCA.

The LHWCA defines an "employee" as:

any person engaged in maritime employment, including any longshoreman or other person engaged in longshoring operations, and any harborworker including a ship repairman, shipbuilder, and shipbreaker....

33 U.S.C. § 902(3). Because Congress did not expressly define "maritime employment," the Supreme Court has looked to the legislative history of the LHWCA to assist in determining whether an employee falls under the Act's provisions. See Northeast Marine Terminal Co., Inc. v. Caputo, 432 U.S. 249, 257-65, 97 S.Ct. 2348, 2353-57, 53 L.Ed.2d 320 (1977). Prior to 1972, the LHWCA covered only those classes of longshoreman and other maritime employees who were injured while on or over the navigable waters of the United States. This resulted in the anomalous situation whereby "amphibious" workers, that is workers who performed some duties on maritime vessels and some on dry land, found themselves "walk[ing] in and out of [LHWCA] coverage," P.C. Pfeiffer v. Ford, 444 U.S. 69, 76, 100 S.Ct. 328, 334, 62 L.Ed.2d 225 (1979), depending on where they were working at the time of the injury. Moreover, advances in loading and unloading technologies, such as the conveyor systems used to load maritime cargo directly on or off vessels from or to land-based locations, meant that much of the traditional longshoring work that the LHWCA was intended to cover was moved inland. Thus, certain longshore workers might never set foot onto a ship or, as a result, "into coverage." To remedy these anomalies and to assure that maritime workers received the protection of the LHWCA regardless of where their work-related injuries occurred, Congress amended the statute in 1972. In so doing, Congress broadened the covered situs by extending coverage inland. However, in an apparent trade-off, it reduced the scope of covered occupations to those employees who worked for "maritime employers" and who were injured on a covered situs while engaging in "maritime employment." Schwalb, 493 U.S. at 46, 110 S.Ct. at 305.

The Supreme Court reacted to the 1972 amendments, by holding, as we have said, that the act is to be "liberally construed and that the LHWCA, as amended, cover[s] all those on the situs involved in the essential or integral elements of the loading or unloading process." Id. (citing Caputo, 432 U.S. at 267, 97 S.Ct. at 2358). Thus, the definition of "maritime employment" reaches not only traditional longshoreman-type work, but it also reaches railroad workers who engage in tasks traditionally performed by longshoremen. Applying the test liberally, the Supreme Court has held that workers performing even one integral part of the loading or unloading process are covered by the LHWCA. P.C Pfeiffer, 444 U.S. at 82, 100 S.Ct. at 337. The Supreme Court also held, in Schwalb, that railroad employees who are injured while maintaining or repairing equipment that is essential to the loading or unloading process are also covered by the LHWCA. Schwalb, 493 U.S. at 47, 110 S.Ct. at 385; see also Kelly v. Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Co., 900 F.2d 89 (6th Cir.1990).

ConRail characterizes Stowers's duties as part of the overall loading and unloading of maritime vessels. According to ConRail, the process for loading the ships begins when the yard crew takes over the railroad cars from the ground crew, while the loading process ends when the yard crew leaves the empty cars with the road engineer. ConRail argues that, without the switchyard crew, the loading and unloading of ships would cease;...