McGray Construction Company Beaver Insurance Company v. Director, Office of Workers Compensation Programs Harry Hurston

I respectfully dissent.

While I agree with the majority that Hurston was not engaged in maritime employment at the time of his injury, I do not agree that Hurston’s past record of maritime employment can transmute his entitlement to state worker’s compensation into a federal entitlement to Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Act benefits.

Suppose two construction workers are hired to do exactly the same non-maritime job together, Hurston’s job, which we are told is “pile driver to repair and replace sheet piling on an oil processing platform.” Assume that, as in the case at bar, a load is…