United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Industrial Comm'n v. Nordenholt Corp., 259 U.S. 263 (1922)

State Industrial Commission of New York v. Nordenholt Corporation

No. 625

Argued March 9, 1922

Decided May 29, 1922

259 U.S. 263

Syllabus

1. When an employee, while working on board a vessel lying in navigable waters, sustains personal injuries there and seeks damages from his employer, the liability of the employer must be determined under the maritime law. P. 259 U. S. 272.

2. But where the injuries occur while the employee is engaged in unloading the vessel on land, the local law has always been applied. P. 259 U. S. 273.

3. A longshoreman was injured on a dock (an extension of the land) while engaged about the unloading of a vessel lying in navigable waters in New York, and died as a result of his injuries. Held that his contract of employment did not contemplate any dominant

Page 259 U. S. 264

federal rule concerning his employer's liability in damages, and that whether awards under the state compensation act are to be regarded as made upon implied agreement of employer and employee or otherwise, the act was applicable to the case, since this would not conflict with any federal statute or work material prejudice to any characteristic feature of the general maritime law. P. 259 U. S. 275. Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U. S. 205, and other cases, distinguished.

195 App.Div. 913, 232 N.Y. 507, reversed.

Certiorari to a judgment of the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, entered upon a remittitur issued from the New York court of appeals pursuant to a decision of the latter court which affirmed a reversal by the former court of an order made under the state Workmen's Compensation Act by the present petitioner requiring the respondents to pay compensation to the widow of a longshoreman who died as the result of personal injuries received while in the employ of the respondent Nordenholt Corporation.

Page 259 U. S. 269