GONSALVES
v.
MORSE DRY DOCK & REPAIR COMPANY

U.S. | 1924-11-17
No. 3
266 U.S. 171 Supreme Court of the United States (1924) Negative Treatment
Also reported at: 69 L. Ed. 228 · 45 S. Ct. 39 · SCDB 1924-036 · 1924 U.S. LEXIS 2905
Cited by 65 cases

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Synopsis

A worker injured by an exploding blowtorch while repairing a ship in a floating dock in Brooklyn brought an admiralty suit against his employer for negligence. The trial court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, but the Supreme Court reversed, holding that admiralty courts had jurisdiction over personal injury tort claims arising from accidents occurring on navigable waters, even when the vessel was undergoing repairs in a floating dock rather than on land.

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Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice McReynolds

Mr. Justice McReynolds delivered the opinion of the Court.

Proceeding in admiralty appellant sought to recover damages for personal injuries received while he was employed by respondent and engaged in repairing the steamer “ Starmount.” Upon motion the trial court dismissed the libel, holding that it had no jurisdiction of the cause.

The libel alleges that respondent had charge of the work of repairing the shell plates of the steamer, then resting in a floating dock at Twenty-seventh Street, Brooklyn; that while employed by respondent and working oh board appellant suffered injuries through the explosion of a blau torch which the employer negligently permitted to be out of repair. The prayer was for monition according to the course and practice in admiralty and for damages.

Since the decree below (June 14,1921) we have decided Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski, 261 U. S. 479. The opinion there controls this cause unless the injuries sustained by appellant were not the result of tort, committed and effective, on navigable waters. In The Robert W. Parsons, 191 U. S. 17, 33, this Court hold that repairs to a vessel while in an ordinary dry dock were not made on land. The Steamship Jefferson, 215 U. S. 130. Here repairs were made upon the ship while supported by a structure floating on navigable waters. Clearly, the accident did not occur upon land. The doctrine followed in Cope v. Vallette Dry Dock Co., 119 U. S. 625, 627, that “ no structure that is not a ship or vessel is a subject of salvage,” has no application. That admiralty jurisdiction in tort matters depends upon locality is settled.

The judgment below must be reversed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By (26 total)

  • Davis v. Dep't of Labor & Indus. of the State of Wash., 317 U.S. 249 (U.S. 1942)
    …64 F. 2d 521, cert. den. 290 U. S. 639; New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. McManigal, 87 F. 2d 332; In re Herbert, 283 Mass. 348, 186 N. E. 554. Cases aiding respondent’s view: Baizley Iron Works v. Span, 281 U. S. 222; Gonsalves v. Morse Dry Dock Co., 266 U. S. 171; Nogueira v. N. Y., N. H. & H. R. Co., 281 U. S. 128; Northern Coal Co. v. Strand, 278 U. S. 142; Employers’ Liability Assurance Co. v. Cook, 281 U. S. 233. For a number of state cases supporting each position, see the Circuit Court opinion in Mo…
  • Calbeck v. Travelers Ins. Co., 370 U.S. 114 (U.S. 1962)
    …onsistently held that the principles of Jensen prohibited the application of state compensation laws to workers engaged in the repair of existing vessels. Robins Dry Dock & Repair Co. v. Dahl, 266 U. S. 449; Gonsalves v. Morse Dry Dock & Repair Co., 266 U. S. 171; Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski, 261 U. S. 479. Hearings before the House Judiciary Committee on H. R. 9498, 69th Cong., 1st Sess., at 39, 118; Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee on S. 3170, 69th Cong., 1…
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  • Millers' Indem. Underwriters v. Braud, 270 U.S. 59 (U.S. 1926)
    …of their special relation to commerce and navigation, and held them beyond the regulatory power of the State, in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski, 261 U. S. 479; Washington v. Dawson & Co., 264 U. S. 219; Gonsalves v. Morse Dry Dock Co., 266 U. S. 171; and Robins Dry Dock Co. v. Dahl, 266 U. S. 449, 457. The conclusion reached by the court below is correct and its judgment must be Affirmed.…

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