US decision defines a vessel

The ruling, reports The Business Times, opens the way for an engineer employed on the dredger Super Scoop to get worker\'s compensation for serious injuries he suffered in an accident while working it to dig a tunnel under the Boston Harbour for a major highway. The decision may once and for all settle the question of the definition of a vessel. Under the Longshore and Harbour Workers\' Compensation Act of 1927, land-based maritime workers, who are not seamen, can sue vessel owners for damages for negligence. However, this Act, nor an earlier Jones Act, defined the words, \'seaman\' or \'vessel\'. In the present case, the injured marine engineer sued the dredger\'s owners (also his employers) for negligence under the Jones Act. Alternatively, he claimed under the LWHCA. Full report in The Business Times