## Facts

- Richard A. Reynolds worked as a shipfitter at Ingalls Shipyard for Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Litton Systems, Inc. (Litton), which was constructing the USS TICONDEROGA for the U.S. Navy.
- Litton’s construction contract required it to conduct sea trials before delivery of the ship.
- In May 1982, Litton took the TICONDEROGA more than three miles offshore to conduct sea trials on the high seas.
- Reynolds volunteered to sail during the trials and was assigned to the steward’s department to wash and stow mess utensils.
- During high-speed turns, soapy water spilled onto the deck; Reynolds slipped and injured his knee.
- Reynolds applied for and received workers’ compensation benefits under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA).
- Reynolds then sued Litton asserting Jones Act negligence, unseaworthiness, general maritime negligence, and negligence under LHWCA § 905(b).
- The district court entered summary judgment for Litton on all claims; Reynolds appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the LHWCA covers a shipyard employee injured on the high seas during sea trials conducted as part of ship construction and testing.
2. If the LHWCA applies, whether its compensation remedy is exclusive against the employer, barring Jones Act, unseaworthiness, general maritime negligence, and § 905(b) claims against the employer.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Litton.
- The court held Reynolds was covered by the LHWCA even though the injury occurred beyond the three-mile territorial limit.
- The court held the LHWCA provided Reynolds’s exclusive remedy against Litton for the injury, precluding his additional tort theories.
- The court rejected use of § 905(b) to obtain negligence damages from Litton in its capacity as Reynolds’s employer-shipbuilder for an injury covered by the LHWCA.

## Legal Principles

- For LHWCA coverage, “navigable waters of the United States” may include the high seas when necessary to avoid arbitrary geographic limits that would defeat uniform compensation for maritime employment.
- A worker’s temporary assignment to nontraditional tasks aboard a vessel does not remove LHWCA “status” when the worker is aboard in furtherance of the employer’s shipbuilding/testing work.
- Under 33 U.S.C. § 905(a), LHWCA compensation liability is exclusive and replaces other employer liability for covered injuries.
- LHWCA § 905(b) does not permit an employee to recover additional negligence damages from the employer for the same covered injury when the employer’s liability is governed by the LHWCA compensation scheme.

## Conclusion

An injury to a shipyard employee during offshore sea trials conducted as part of ship construction falls within LHWCA coverage, and once covered, the LHWCA’s compensation remedy is the employee’s exclusive remedy against the employer, barring overlapping maritime and Jones Act claims.


Reynolds v. Ingalls Shipbuilding Div., Litton Sys., Inc., 788 F.2d 264 (5th Cir. 1986)