Beddoo v. Smoot Sand & Gravel Corp.

This is an action, brought under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920,1 to recover damages for personal, injuries sustained by appellant while employed on board a river dredge owned and operated by appellee. The District Court dismissed on the ground that appellant was not a “seaman” within the meaning of the act nor a “member of a crew” within the meaning of the exclusion provision of the Longshoremen’s Act, 33 U.S.C.A. § 901 et seq. (made applicable to the District of Columbia as a workmen’s compensation act by act of May 17, 1928).2

At the trial it was agreed that appellee has…