Uddin v. Saipan Stevedore Co.
| Decision Date | 13 August 1996 |
| Docket Number | BRB 93-1947 |
| Parties | HELAL UDDIN Claimant-Respondent v. SAIPAN STEVEDORE COMPANY, INCORPORATED Self-Insured Employer-Petitioner DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION PROGRAMS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Respondent |
| Court | Longshore Complaints Court of Appeals |
Appeal of the Decision and Order Awarding Benefits of G. Marvin Bober, Administrative Law Judge, United States Department of Labor.
Jay H Sorensen, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, for claimant.
Donald R. Hazlewood, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, and Ronald H Klein (Emard & Perrochet), San Francisco, California, for self-insured employer.
Mark A. Reinhalter (J. Davitt McAteer, Acting Solicitor of Labor Carol A. DeDeo, Associate Solicitor; Samuel J. Oshinsky Counsel for Longshore), Washington, D.C., for the Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, United States Department of Labor.
Before: SMITH, BROWN and DOLDER, Administrative Appeals Judges.
DECISION AND ORDER
Employer appeals the Decision and Order Awarding Benefits (91-LHC-1510) of Administrative Law Judge G. Marvin Bober rendered on a claim filed pursuant to the provisions of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §901 et seq. (the Act). We must affirm the administrative law judge's findings of fact and conclusions of law if they are supported by substantial evidence, are rational, and are in accordance with law. 33 U.S.C. §921(b)(3); O'Keeffe v Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc., 380 U.S. 359 (1965).
Claimant, who resides and works on the island of Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), began working for employer on April 13, 1987, as a stevedore, performing all ship- and stevedore-related work. Tr. at 24-25. On June 13, 1987, claimant stood on top of a container to unhook it after it was loaded on the ship. The crane and cable developed a problem and started shaking. Claimant injured his back when he jumped from the container onto the deck of the ship before the crane fell onto the container. Id. at 27-31. He returned to work in July, but he soon quit because he was unable to perform heavy work without pain. By November 1987, claimant had begun working as a security guard with various agencies. Decision and Order at 2-3. Employer paid temporary total disability and medical benefits from June 13 through July 8, 1987, and claimant filed a claim for continuing benefits.
On November 24, 1992, the administrative law judge issued an order denying employer's motion to dismiss the claim for lack of jurisdiction. Employer argued that the Act does not apply to the CNMI because the Covenant establishing the CNMI, see infra, does not mention the Act as applying and because the Act, by definition, does not cover the CNMI. The administrative law judge determined that the Act applies to territories of the United States (U.S.) and their waters and it applies to Guam; therefore, he concluded it applies to the CNMI. In his decision issued on June 4, 1993, prior to addressing the factual issues raised in the case, he reaffirmed his conclusion that the Act applies to the CNMI. Decision and Order at 4. Thereafter, the administrative law judge awarded claimant permanent partial disability and medical benefits, interest, a Section 14(e) penalty, and an attorney's fee. Id. at 6-9. On appeal, employer raises only the jurisdiction issue. Both claimant and the Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (the Director), respond. Before addressing employer's appeal, we shall outline the history of the CNMI and its political status in the U.S.
The Northern Mariana Islands are a group of small islands located in the South Pacific, in Micronesia, north of Guam. Saipan, Tinian, and Rota are the largest and most populated islands of the group. See Hillblom v. United States, 896 F.2d 426 (9th Cir. 1990); S. Rep. No. 596, 94th Cong., 2d Sess.4-5 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 448 (1976). From the beginning of World War I until the U.S. invasion in 1944, Japan ruled the Marianas. From 1944 until 1947, the islands were a U.S. possession. In 1947, the United Nations designated the area as a Trust Territory to be administered by the U.S. Micronesian Telecommunications Corp. v. NLRB, 820 F.2d 1097, 1098 (9th Cir. 1987) (MTC).
In 1969, the U.S. began negotiations with representatives of the Micronesian islands of the Trust Territory to determine their future political status. In 1972, representatives of the Northern Mariana Islands entered into separate negotiations with the U.S. because they desired a closer tie to the U.S. than did the remaining island communities.[1] United States v. De Leon Guerrero, 4 F.3d 749, 751 (9th Cir. 1993); Temengil v. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 881 F.2d 647, 650 (9th Cir. 1989). In 1976, the U.S. and the Northern Mariana Islands entered into a "Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America" (Covenant). The Covenant was approved by the legislature and citizens of the Northern Mariana Islands and was enacted into law by the U.S. Congress. Joint Resolution of March 24, 1976, Pub.L. No. 94-241, 90 Stat. 263, reprinted in 48 U.S.C. §1681 note; see De Leon Guerrero, 4 F.3d at 751. Some of the provisions of the Covenant became effective in 1976, others in 1978 by Presidential Proclamation, and as of November 3, 1986, the Covenant took full effect.[2]Covenant §1003(b), 48 U.S.C. §1801 (Supp. 1995); MTC, 820 F.2d at 1099; Proclamation No. 4534, 42 Fed. Reg. 56, 593. Despite the staggered effective dates, the U.S. generally treated the Northern Mariana Islands as a commonwealth since 1978. Temengil, 881 F.2d at 650.
Employer contends that the Act, by definition, does not cover the CNMI because the Act's silence on the matter indicates the CNMI is not included in the definition of "United States." Employer argues that the status of the CNMI is like that of Puerto Rico and, as the Act is not applicable to Puerto Rico, it should not apply to the CNMI. The Director, however, maintains that the CNMI falls within the coverage of the Act and the definition of "United States" in Section 2(9), 33 U.S.C. §902(9), as the term "Territory" has a broad meaning, and that the Act's silence on the matter merely indicates the CNMI is not excluded. Section 3(a) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. §903(a), provides that it covers injuries or deaths which occur "upon the navigable waters of the United States. . . ." Section 2(9) defines the term "United States" as follows: "The term `United States' when used in a geographical sense means the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia, including the territorial waters thereof." 33 U.S.C. §902(9). Employer contends the CNMI is not a "Territory" and thus does not fall within the Act's realm of coverage.
The term "territory" (or "Territory") does not have a fixed and technical meaning and is not defined in the Act. As the Board stated in Tyndzik v. University of Guam, 27 BRBS 57, 61 (1993) (Smith, J., dissenting on other grounds), rev'd in part on other grounds sub nom. Tyndzik v. Director, OWCP, 53 F.3d 1050, 29 BRBS 83 (CRT) (9th Cir. 1995), the meaning "may vary and further analysis is required to determine the applicable usage." Although the terms "possession, " "territory, "[3] and "commonwealth, "[4] have been used to label the islands, the "political and sovereign status of the Trust Territory . . . puzzled legislators, courts, and commentators from the beginning." Temengil, 881 F.2d at 650. Currently, the CNMI and Puerto Rico are commonwealths while Guam and the Virgin Islands are territories. See Tyndzik, 27 BRBS at 62 ();[5] Jon M. Van Dyke, The Evolving Legal Relationships Between the United States and Its Affiliated U.S.-Flag Islands, 14 U. Haw. L. Rev. 445, 450-451 (1992).
Senate Report 94-596 describes the CNMI as follows:
Although described as a commonwealth, the relationship is territorial in nature with final sovereignty vested in the United States and plenary legislative authority vested in the United States Congress. The essential difference between the Covenant and the usual territorial relationship, such as that of Guam, is the provision in the Covenant that the Marianas constitution and government structure will be a product of a Marianas constitutional convention, as was the case with Puerto Rico, rather than through an organic act of the United States Congress.
1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 449. Thus, there is some support for employer's analogy between the CNMI and Puerto Rico, wherein the Act is inapplicable. Garcia v. Friesecke, 597 F.2d 284 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 940 (1979) (); Guerrido v. Alcoa Steamship Co., 234 F.2d 349 (1st Cir. 1956). The CNMI has agreed it is an "unincorporated territory" which resembles Puerto Rico; however, it claims it is different from other unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico because it has a right to self-government which is guaranteed by the mutual consent provisions of the Covenant and no other territory has this guarantee. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands v. Atalig, 723 F.2d 682, 691 n.28 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1244 (1984); see also Covenant §§101-105, 48 U.S.C. §1801 (Supp. 1995); Garcia, 597 F.2d at 293 n.11. Nonetheless, despite the similarity between the status of Puerto Rico and the status of the CNMI, we conclude the administrative law judge properly relied on the terms of the Covenant which created the CNMI to determine that the Act applies therein.
Article I of the Covenant defines the relationship...
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