Recent Development by Ptolemy H. Taylor
Brian Gremillion sustained a back injury while transferring a piece of heavy equipment from a crew boat onto a shoreside housing barge, where he was employed as a maintenance man. Gremillion and his wife filed suit, claiming that Gremillion's seaman status entitled him to the special remedies of the Jones Act. The district court below granted summary judgment for the defendant, ruling that Gremillion had not satisfied the threshold question of whether the shoreside housing barge was a “vessel” for Jones Act purposes. Affirming the district court, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the shoreside housing barge was not a Jones Act “vessel,” and that as a result, Gremillion was not a seaman entitled to a Jones Act remedy. Gremillion v. Gulf Coast Catering Co., 904 F.2d 290 (5th Cir. 1990).
About the Author
Ptolemy H. Taylor.
Citation
65 Tul. L. Rev. 911 (1991)