The California Supreme Court said an appellate court erred when it determined that amendments to the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act triggered exclusive remedy provisions under state law and prohibited an injured worker from pursuing negligence claims under general maritime law.
“The 1984 amendments to the LHWCA specify which workers compensation scheme — federal or state — applies, but they did not themselves purport to abrogate available general maritime remedies for those outside the LHWCA’s scope,” the high court said Feb. 27 in Ranger v. Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.
“Nor, under the supremacy clause of the federal Constitution, may the exclusive remedy provision in California’s workers compensation scheme be applied to deprive a plaintiff of a substantive federal maritime right.”
Brian Ranger was a maintenance worker for Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. He was injured in August 2018 when he slipped and fell while boarding a vessel. Mr. Ranger applied for workers comp benefits and then sued the yacht club in superior court.
He asserted two claims under general maritime law: The first cause of action alleged that the club failed to provide adequate training, and the second alleged that the club caused the vessel to be unseaworthy and dangerous to employees who were required to board it.
While the trial court agreed that the accident happened on navigable waters, it concluded that Mr. Ranger failed to demonstrate that his fall posed “more than a fanciful risk to maritime commerce.”
The court of appeals affirmed on different grounds. It did not consider whether the worker implicated federal admiralty jurisdiction. Instead, it said the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act displaced general maritime law and made California’s workers comp scheme the exclusive remedy for Mr. Ranger.
Amendments to the LHWCA adopted in 1984 exclude those such as Mr. Ranger, who are employed by a “club” and who are subject to coverage under a state work comp system.
Mr. Ranger, however, argued that excluding certain workers from the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act meant only that they would be covered by state work comp laws, not that Congress intended to deprive them of the right to pursue tort remedies that are otherwise available under federal law.
The state Supreme Court agreed.
The high court said the LHWCA does not narrow admiralty jurisdiction or articulate what maritime remedies are or aren’t available. The yacht club mistakenly assumed that judicially constructed maritime law tort causes of action are exclusively for the benefit of maritime workers, but the reality is those remedies are available to virtually anyone who is injured in an admiralty setting.
“Had the LHWCA intended to abrogate general maritime remedies for every worker who was not an employee as defined in the act, one would expect to see that intent expressed more clearly,” the court said.
This article was first published in Business Insurance.
