Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. v. Smith

The question is whether assumption of risk is a defense in a suit brought by a seaman under the Jones Act to recover for injuries resulting from his use, while on duty, of a defective appliance of the ship, when he chose to use the unsafe appliance instead of a safe method of doing his work, which was known to him.

Respondent, a seaman, brought the present suit in the District Court for southern New York to recover, under the Jones Act, 41 Stat. 1007, 46 U. S. C. § 688, for an injury received from a fall in the engine room of petitioner’s vessel. The fall was caused by a defective step on…