Amanda Beech v. Hercules Drilling Co., L.L.C.

JENNIFER WALKER ELROD, Circuit Judge:

This ease requires us to decide whether vicarious liability principles under the Jones Act allow a seaman’s wife to recover from her husband’s employer for the bizarre events that led to his tragic and untimely death. Keith Beech died after his co-worker, Michael Cosenza, accidentally shot him aboard a Hercules-owned vessel. The district court determined that Cosenza was acting in the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident. Because we conclude that Cosenza was not acting in the course of his employment when he accidentally shot…