Barlas v. United States

OPINION

CHIN, District Judge.

On March 17, 2000, seaman Eduardo Barlas tripped on a plastic packing strap on the deck of the S.S. Cape Avinof. Bar-las’s feet became entangled in the strap while he was carrying two heavy boxes of canned goods, and the fall injured his ankle, knee, and lower back. In this case, Barlas contends that dual defects rendered the Cape Avinof “unseaworthy”: the plastic strap was inadequate because it must have slipped off a carton, uncut, and the deck was unsafe because it contained a nearly invisible entanglement hazard.

In the peculiar world of the general maritime law…