Jones Act barred employer’s counterclaim against injured seaman in admiralty case

Vincent Deering was injured while piloting a boat to move barges at a facility operated by his employer, National Maintenance & Repair, Inc. Deering had warned his supervisor of a defect in the boat's steering mechanism that made it unsafe to perform the tasks he was told to carry out, but his supervisor told him to continue anyway.

Deering's vessel became wedged against the bar it was towing, and when another boat approached at an excessive speed, Deering had to suddenly reverse its engines to avoid a collision. Deering's boat flooded and quickly sank. Deering was swept underneath the barge.

Deering sued National under the Jones Act, but National petitioned for relief in federal district court pursuant to the Limitation of Liability Act, limiting the ship owner's liability to the ship's value.

When Deering refiled his general admiralty law and Jones Act claims in district court, after his state action had been ordered to stay, National counterclaimed to recover damages of $800,000 - the value of the lost boat. National alleged that Deering's negligence was at least a partial cause of the boat sinking.

The district court dismissed the counter claim on the basis that counterclaims in the nature to setoff Jones Act claims are prohibited. The court noted that suits by ship owners against employees seeking for property damage are rare, and that they generally occur when a ship owner seeks a setoff against its employees personal injury claim. The case came down to whether or not the setoff was permissible; and in this case, the court concluded that it was not.

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