Watson v. Puget Sound Tug & Barge Co.

Plaintiff1 sued to recover for an occupational disease that he alleged that he had acquired during his work for defendants as a deckhand on tugboats and barges. The court submitted two bases of liability to the jury: negligence under the Jones Act, 46 USC § 688, and unseaworthiness under general maritime law. Defendants asserted the affirmative defense of contributory negligence. The jury found that defendants’ vessels were “unseaworthy in a manner that was a substantial factor in causing plaintiffs injuries”; that defendants’ negligence caused plaintiffs injuries; that plaintiff did not know…