Court Jurisdiction, Procedure and Review: Federal Court Jurisdiction; Remand Maritime Law: Negligence; Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act

摘要

While working for Bis Salamis, Inc. (BSI), an independent contractor, on a semi-submersible rig located in the Gulf of Mexico, Moore alleges that he was exposed to a chemical skin irritant that caused him to suffer a severe allergic reaction. Moore sued in Louisiana state court against the owners of the rig and BSI. BSI filed a removal petition asserting that the claims arose under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) giving the federal court jurisdiction. Moore then filed this motion to remand the case back to state court. BSI, as the removing party, bears the burden of proof to show that the federal court has jurisdiction. Moore argued that he is asserting a valid Jones Act (46 U.S.C. §§ 30104-30105) claim which is not removable. BIS argues that the Jones Act claim was fraudulently pleaded in order to avoid removal to the federal courts. In order to fall under the Jones Act, Moore must be a seaman which is not a term defined by the Jones Act. A prerequisite to a common law determination that a person is a seaman is whether or not the seaman was working on a vessel. As with the term seaman, the term vessel is not defined by the Jones Act. The court applies several factors to determine if the semi-submersible rig is in fact a vessel; including whether it was constructed for the purpose of transporting people or goods, whether the rig is intended to be moved from place to place, the length of time it remains stationary and the existence of other "essential vessel features." In applying the factors to the semi-submersible rig the court concluded that it was designed to essentially remain in a single place once it was moved to the site and thus was not a vessel but a permanent structure on the seabed. The court distinguished several cases finding semi-submersible rigs as being vessels because those were designed to move from place to place while the rig in this case has limited mobility within a 350-foot maximum radius from the wellbore. Thus, the court concludes that the Jones Act does not preclude removal. The OCSLA provides for federal court jurisdiction over matters arising under or in connection with operations occurring on the outer continental shelf. The court has no difficulty finding that since all of the events occurred on the rig/platform located on the outer continental shelf that the OCSLA clearly applied.