Dockside Injuries Under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act

Authors

• E. D. R., Jr., University of Georgia School of Law

Publication Date

1969

Abstract

Since its enactment in 1927, the Longshoremen's and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act has been the source of much confusion in admiralty law, particularly with respect to admiralty-state jurisdictional conflicts. The Act provides compensation:

"in respect of disability or death of an employee, but only if the dis- ability or death results from an injury occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States (including any dry dock) and if recovery for the disability or death through workman's compensation proceedings may not validly be provided by State law."

Since the purpose of the Act was to cover injuries not compensable under state workmen's compensation acts, there was from the outset a likelihood of overlap among the different legislative schemes. Justice Black, recognizing the existence of the problematic overlap in jurisdiction fifteen years later, coined the term "twilight zone" to connote that area in which determination of proper coverage must be left to a case by case analysis. Much of the litigation concerning the Act to date has involved attempts to define the scope of the twilight zone, although as Justice Black observed when he introduced the term, the jurisdictional boundaries are essentially "undefined and undefinable."

Recommended Citation

R.,, E. D. Jr. (1969) "Dockside Injuries Under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Worker's Compensation Act," Georgia Law Review: Vol. 3: No. 3, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol3/iss3/7