United States Ninth Circuit

In a suit brought by a crane operator on a barge against an employer as a seaman under the Jones Act or as a harbor worker under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, summary judgment for the employer is reversed where: 1) the minor movements of the vessel and the sea-based duties of plaintiff, although ancillary to his core responsibility as a crane operator, raised genuine issues of material fact as to whether he was a seaman; 2) there was a genuine issue of material facts as to whether the duty owed to plaintiff belonged to defendant as a vessel owner; and 3) there were genuine issues as to a ramp's status and defendant's exercise of its turnover duty.

Appellate Information

• Argued 11/16/2006
• Decided 02/14/2007
• Published 02/14/2007

Judges

• CUDAHY, Circuit Judge., Before RICHARD D. CUDAHY,BETTY B. FLETCHER, and SUSAN P. GRABER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John R. Hillsman, McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky, San Francisco, CA, and David W. Robertson, Austin, TX, for the plaintiff-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mitchell S. Griffin and Richard C. Wootton, Cox, Wootton, Griffin, Hansen & Poulos, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the defendant-appellee.