Usner v. Luckenbach Overseas Corp./Dissent Harlan

by John Marshall Harlan II

United States Supreme Court

400 U.S. 494

Usner  v.  Luckenbach Overseas Corp.

 Argued: Nov. 18, 1970. --- Decided: Jan 25, 1971

Mr. Justice HARLAN, dissenting.

Past decisions of this Court have expanded the doctrine of unseaworthiness almost to the point of absolute liability. I have often protested against this development. See, e.g., the cases cited by the Court, ante, at 497 n. 6. But I must in good conscience regard the particular issue in this case as having been decided by Crumady v. The J. H. Fisser, 358 U.S. 423, 79 S.Ct. 445, 3 L.Ed.2d 413 (1959), even if prior decisions did not inexorably point to that result. As my Brother DOUGLAS states, Crumady cannot justly be distinguished from the case before us. Much as I would welcome a thoroughgoing re-examination of the past course of developments in the unseaworthiness doctrine, I fear that the Court's action today can only result in compounding the current difficulties of the lower courts with this area of the law.

Notes