## Facts

- Louis Solana and Brendan J. Lally were at-will employees of GlobalSantaFe entities assigned to the semi-submersible drilling unit Development Driller I (DDI), a high-value offshore rig fabricated for Gulf of Mexico operations.
- In summer 2005, the DDI was anchored offshore and had not performed drilling because submerged thruster housings were cracked and under repair.
- As Hurricane Katrina approached, the operator followed hurricane procedures: the DDI was powered down and its crew evacuated to shore.
- After the storm, the DDI was reported to be listing significantly; company personnel asked evacuated workers, including Lally and Solana, to return to the DDI to try to save it.
- Solana and Lally re-boarded and performed work to stabilize the unit, including restoring power and addressing flooding conditions so the rig could be towed by a professional salvage firm.
- The DDI was ultimately brought to port and repaired.
- Solana and Lally sued in admiralty against the DDI in rem and affiliated GlobalSantaFe entities in personam, seeking a maritime salvage award as “pure salvors” (at least 1% of the DDI’s value).
- The district court granted summary judgment for defendants, ruling (1) the facts did not support a salvage award, and (2) plaintiffs had agreed to be compensated the same way they previously had been paid.
- Plaintiffs appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether employees assigned to and responsible for an offshore drilling unit can recover a maritime salvage award for post-hurricane stabilization efforts, given the requirement that salvage services be “voluntary” rather than performed under a preexisting duty.
2. Whether the summary-judgment record conclusively established an agreement that plaintiffs would receive only their prior employment compensation for returning to the DDI, thereby barring additional recovery as a matter of law.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit held that the record did not support a maritime salvage award on these facts.
- The court held that the record did not establish, as a matter of law, a binding agreement that plaintiffs would be compensated only in the same manner as before.
- The court reversed the summary judgment and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its rulings.

## Legal Principles

- A maritime salvage claim requires: (1) marine peril, (2) voluntary service not required by existing duty or contract, and (3) success in saving the property in whole or in part.
- “Voluntariness” is defeated when the claimed salvage services are performed pursuant to a preexisting employment duty to protect the employer’s vessel or property; crew members and functional equivalents ordinarily cannot claim salvage for saving their own vessel absent special circumstances severing that duty.
- On summary judgment, a court may resolve a compensation-limiting contract theory only if the record shows no genuine dispute of material fact regarding mutual assent and the agreement’s terms; ambiguous evidence about what was promised when employees were asked to return to protect the vessel cannot be treated as conclusive.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit rejected the employees’ salvage claim because their post-storm efforts were not “voluntary” in the salvage sense, but it reversed summary judgment to the extent it rested on an asserted agreement limiting compensation to prior pay, remanding for further proceedings on unresolved compensation issues.


Solana v. GSF Dev. Driller I, 587 F.3d 266 (5th Cir. 2009)