Diamond Offshore Management Co. v. Guidry

In this wrongful death action under the Jones Act, 1 the trial court rendered judgment on a verdict for the plaintiff of a deceased seaman, killed ashore when he was thrown from the bed of a pickup in a one-vehicle accident. A divided court of appeals affirmed. 2 Petitioner, the decedent’s employer, complains that there is no evidence that at the time of the accident the decedent was “in the course of his employment”, as required by the Act, but alternatively, even if there was some evidence to that effect, it was not conclusive, and the jury should therefore have been, but was not, asked to…