Plaintiff filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia alleging that his supervisor assaulted him while they were both working for a Defense Contractor at Camp Speicher in Iraq. Plaintiff attempted to hold his employer liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress and for failing to provide timely medical care after the assault. The district court dismissed Plaintiff’s claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, determining that Plaintiff’s remedy was found in the Defense Base Act “DBA,” and not in a tort suit. As stated by the court (with internal citations omitted): The assault at issue in this case occurred while Mason was working at Camp Speicher, a U.S. military base that was captured during the Iraq war. Thus, the DBA applies and provides Mason’s exclusive remedy against Sallyport as long as the assault at issue falls within the DBA’s definition of “injury.” Mason contends that it does not,Read more
District Court Interpreted the LHWCA’s Exclusivity Provision and Granted Summary Judgment for Defendant
Plaintiff, a welder on a stationary platform on the outer continental shelf off the coast of Louisiana, filed suit in the Western District of Louisiana alleging that he was intentionally injured by a co-employee while working for Defendant. Plaintiff was carrying a lifeline rope from one location to another when the co-employee “intentionally stepped on the rope,” thus jerking him backward. Claimant slipped, fell, and allegedly injured his neck, left shoulder, low back, and left knee. The issue before the court on Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment was whether the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act’s (“LHWCA”) exclusivity provision barred Plaintiff’s federal court lawsuit. The LHWCA defines “injury” to mean “accidental injury or death arising out of and in the course of employment, and such occupational disease or infection as arises naturally out of such employment or as naturally or unavoidably results from such accidental injury, and includes an injury caused by theRead more
