Crewman Injured After Dredge Runs Around in North Carolina
A crew member on a dredge suffered injuries when the tug and dredge ran aground in the Oregon Inlet in North Carolina.
One of the maritime workers fractured his femur when the dredge, Cooper River, ran aground. Crew members stabilized his leg and called the Coast Guard. Rescue crews arrived and the crewman was evacuated.
Dredges Qualify as Vessels
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled, in Willard Stewarts vs. Dutra, that a dredge was also a vessel. The ruling rejected the argument that because the dredge in question was not in movement at the time of the injury, the worker was not eligible for damages. In that particular case, a marine engineer, Willard Stewart, who maintained a dredge for the Dutra Construction Company, was injured and sought personal damages from the company under the Jones Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act. 
The district court, as well as the appeals court, found that the definition of a vessel did not include a dredge. The company argued that Stewart was not a seaman. It did, however, acknowledge that he was a member of the dredge's crew, that he spent 99 percent of his work time on the dredge, and that his duties contributed to the function of the dredge.
The Supreme Court held that the dredge was a vessel under the Longshore and Harbor Workers Compensation Act. The Court ruled that because the watercraft was permanently moored and was not being used for “transport" in the general sense of the term, did not over rule the fact that the dredge was in navigation.
The maritime lawyers at Arnold & Itkin LLP represent workers who have been injured on dredges, towboats, tugboats, barges, and other vessels on rivers and inland waterways.
