Background:  Plaintiff Lance Campbell sought damages from defendant Royal Caribbean Cruises ("RCC").

Campbell was employed as a dancer. He was rehearsing at RCC's Miami, Florida studios to later perform on RCC's ship, the Radiance of the Seas. During a rehearsal on January 20, 2007, and having never boarded the ship, Campbell was injured when he was struck by another of RCC's employees. As a result, he suffered severe injuries to his head, neck, back, and other body parts.

Campbell filed suit in state court, alleging he was a Jones Act seaman. Campbell moved for a remand and an order requiring RCC to pay Campbell's maintenance and cure. 

RCC opposed the remand and moved for summary judgment, contending that Campbell was not a Jones Act seaman.

Issue: Whether a person hired in anticipation of working aboard a ship as a seaman, but who is injured onshore while training for his job, is a seaman under the Jones Act.

Held:

The Supreme Court has provided a two-part test for determining a claimant's seaman status: (1) The employee's duties must contribute to the function of the ship or to the accomplishment of its mission, and (2) a seaman must have a connection to a ship in navigation that is substantial in both its duration and its nature.

RCC argued that Campbell was injured at a rehearsal three weeks before he was scheduled to step aboard the Radiance of the Seas, and thus he should not qualify as a Jones Act seaman.  Campbell argued that he was substantially connected to RCC's ship because he was employed with the purpose of performing on the ship.

The Court noted that Campbell never set foot on the ship in an employment capacity. RCC established that Campbell did not have the connection to a ship needed to meet the Supreme Court's two-part test. 

Therefore, this Court established that Campbell was not a Jones Act seaman when he was injured. Thus, RCC's motion for summary judgment on seaman status was granted. Campbell's motion to remand and motion to compel RCC to pay adequate maintenance and cure were denied.

Comments:

The Jones Act permits a seaman who is injured in the course of employment to recover from his employer for negligence. The Act does not define the term "seaman," but the Supreme Court devised a two-part test, as stated above.

In the first part of the test, an employee's duties must contribute to the function of the ship. The Jones Act's protections, like the other admiralty protections for seamen, extend only to those maritime employees who do the ship's work. The threshold requirement is very broad: All who work at sea in the service of a ship are eligible for seaman status.

In the present case, Campbell failed to show that he worked at sea in the service of RCC on their ship. The Court found it insufficient that he was training to be a dancer on the ship, and was not actually aboard the ship.

Steve Gordon
http://www.offshoreinjuries.com