Merren v. A/S Borgestad

This case involves the applicability of the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688, which provides a cause of action for injured seamen for their damages, to a case in which two sailors died in a shipboard accident. The district court granted summary judgment for defendant on the theory that the Act was not intended to cover plaintiffs such as those here, as the situation of those plaintiffs was brought out in the complaint, affidavits and answers to interrogatories and documents.1

*83The chief contention of plaintiffs on appeal is that they were not given complete discovery and that the district court…