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Morganti v. Lockheed Martin — U.S. Supreme Court refuses to upset Kreindler & Kreindler
LLP's victory for workers injured on Navigable Waters, leading to confidential settlement.
The case involved an employee of Lockheed Martin Corporation, who drowned on
Cayuga Lake in upstate New York, after a wave swept him into the water while working on a
research barge moored in the middle of the lake. The victim's widow filed a claim for death
benefits under the LHWCA, which was opposed by Lockheed Martin on the grounds that her
husband was not a "maritime employee," and the barge was a fixed platform, more like an
artificial island. An administrative law judge found that the victim was only transiently and
fortuitously on navigable waters and denied the claim. That decision was appealed to the Benefits Review Board, which reversed the denial of benefits. The United States Court of Appeals for the
Second Circuit affirmed, and rejected Lockheed Martin's transient and fortuitous argument,
holding that only two factors had to be satisfied under the Act: situs (navigable waters) and status
(employee). Lockheed pressed its argument to the United States Supreme Court, which rejected
its appeal.
The original LHWCA was passed in 1927 to provide a scheme of compensation for
maritime workers who may fall outside state worker compensation schemes. It remains a useful
tool workers injured on navigable waters, even those employees who don't have a traditional
maritime purpose. The Act permits compensation far beyond that granted by state workers'
compensation laws.
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