Godfrey v. United States

CRARY, District Judge.

Libelant, a radar and electronics technician, seeks damages for personal injuries allegedly received when he stepped back with his left leg into an open deck hatch, twenty-three inches in diameter, in the control room of a Navy LCU during underwater closed circuit television operations re recovery of a dummy missile about eight miles off San Clemente Island. At the time of the accident, the libelant, who was employed by Photo-Sonics, Inc., an independent contractor with the Navy, was moving back from a TV monitor and equipment for controlling movement of the submerged TV…