Leland Cormier v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc. And Insurance Company of North America (A/k/a Ina Corporation)

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:

An employer appeals from an award of damages entered by the trial judge for injuries to a welder, employed by it in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The welder was injured when he fell while working aboard a barge moored for loading. The trial court concluded that the welder was not a Jones Act seaman, that neither the employer nor the employee were negligent, and awarded damages for breach of a Sieracki 1 warranty of seaworthiness under this court’s decision in Aparicio v. Swan Lake, 643 F.2d 1109 (5th Cir.1981).

The employer’s argument here is primarily an…