In the United States, there are twelve Courts of Appeals which are known as “circuit courts.” All fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia, are divided into various circuits. These courts are intermediate appellate courts; the last step before the Supreme Court of the United States. Over time, each circuit court has developed its own identity and reputation. The circuit courts can decide issues differently, sometimes because of geographical, political or ideological differences. When a circuit court decides an issue differently from a court in another circuit, a “split” is created. Lower courts in a circuit (i.e. district courts) are bound by their appellate court’s decisions. Those same courts are not bound by another circuit court’s decision.
In the Defense Base Act (“DBA”) context, the applicable federal circuit law is determined by statute. Section 1653(b) of the DBA states: “Judicial proceedings provided under sections 18 and 21 of the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act in respect to a compensation order made pursuant to this Act shall be instituted in the United States district court of the judicial district wherein is located the office of the deputy commissioner whose compensation order is involved if his office is located in a judicial district, and if not so located, such judicial proceedings shall be instituted in the judicial district nearest the base at which the injury or death occurs.”
If the office of the deputy commissioner (now known as “district director”) controls which circuit’s caselaw to apply, then only a limited number of circuit’s will have precedent in DBA cases because there are only a limited number of district director offices. As seen on the Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation’s contact page, there are offices in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Houston, San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle and Longbeach, with the National Office situated in Washington, D.C. Under this scheme, only the legal interpretations from the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th and 11th circuits would constitute potentially precedential caselaw in DBA claims, to the exclusion of the interpretations made by the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th and D.C. circuits. For claimants residing in twenty-seven States and the District of Columbia, their cases will be analyzed using the law of a federal circuit court that is not their own. An injured longshoreman and an injured DBA claimant living next door to each other in Chicago, Illinois, will have different interpretations from different circuits–the 5th and the 7th–applied to their claim. As such, it is important to know the interpretations of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and the DBA that are employed by the applicable circuit.
Below is a chart that identifies the federal circuit for each State. To the far right, the chart identifies the controlling circuit caselaw based on the district director’s office. If the State’s name is written in “all caps,” then the typical circuit law that applies to that state has been displaced by the DBA’s judicial proceedings statute.
(Note: I originally published this post on Navigable Waters: A Maritime, Longshore and Defense Base Act Blog.)
State | Federal Circuit | Applicable DBA Circuit Law Based On District Director’s Office |
Alabama | 11th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
Alaska | 9th | 9th – Seattle Office |
Arizona | 9th | 9th – San Francisco Office |
ARKANSAS | 8th | 5th – New Orleans Office |
California | 9th | 9th – San Francisco or Long Beach Office |
COLORADO | 10th | 9th – Seattle Office |
CONNECTICUT | 2nd | 1st – Boston Office |
DELAWARE | 3rd | 4th – Baltimore Office |
D.C. | D.C. | 4th – Baltimore Office |
Florida | 11th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
Georgia | 11th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
Hawaii | 9th | 9th – Honolulu Office |
Idaho | 9th | 9th – Seattle Office |
ILLILNOIS | 7th | 5th – Houston Office |
INDIANA | 7th | 5th – Houston Office |
IOWA | 8th | 5th – Houston Office |
KANSAS | 10th | 5th – Houston Office |
KENTUCKY | 6th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
Louisiana | 5th | 5th – New Orleans Office |
Maine | 1st | 1st – Boston Office |
Maryland | 4th | 4th – Baltimore Office |
Massachusetts | 1st | 1st – Boston Office |
MICHIGAN | 6th | 5th – Houston Office |
MINNESOTA | 8th | 5th – Houston Office |
Mississippi | 5th | 5th – New Orleans Office |
MISSOURI | 8th | 5th – Houston Office |
Montana | 9th | 9th – Seattle Office |
NEBRASKA | 8th | 5th – Houston Office |
Nevada | 9th | 9th – San Francisco Office |
New Hampshire | 1st | 1st – Boston Office |
NEW JERSEY | 3rd | 2nd – New York Office |
NEW MEXICO | 10th | 5th – Houston Office |
New York | 2nd | 2nd – New York Office |
NORTH CAROLINA | 4th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
NORTH DAKOTA | 8th | 9th – Seattle Office |
OHIO | 6th | 5th – Houston Office |
OKLAHOMA | 10th | 5th – Houston Office |
Oregon | 9th | 9th – Seattle Office |
PENNSYLVANIA | 3rd | 4th – Baltimore Office |
Rhode Island | 1st | 1st – Boston Office |
SOUTH CAROLINA | 4th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
SOUTH DAKOTA | 8th | 9th – Seattle Office |
TENNESSEE | 6th | 11th – Jacksonville Office |
Texas | 5th | 5th – Houston Office |
UTAH | 10th | 9th – Seattle Office |
VERMONT | 2nd | 1st – Boston Office |
Virginia | 4th | 4th – Norfolk Office |
Washington | 9th | 9th – Seattle Office |
West Virginia | 4th | 4th – Baltimore Office |
WISCONSIN | 7th | 5th – Houston Office |
WYOMING | 10th | 9th – Seattle Office |