John H. Smith v. M/v Captain Fred, Her Engines, Boilers, Furniture, Gear, Tackle and Apparel, in Rem, John H. Smith v. Delta Iron Works, Inc.

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal we are asked to decide whether the rule of Reed v. The Yaka, 373 U.S. 410, 83 S.Ct. 1349, 10 L.Ed.2d 448 (1963), survived the passage of the 1972 Amendments to the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 901 et seq. (Supp. II, 1972). The district court, on stipulated facts, decided in the negative and held that a repairman could not sue the vessel on which he was injured for its negligence as a third party if the owner of that vessel was also his employer. We disagree and reverse.

Since its enactment in 1927, the LHWCA has…