Is a Marsh Buggy a Vessel?
Is a Marsh Buggy a Vessel?
By: Mark Tufts
Schouest v. Marsh Buggies, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10542 (E.D. La. Jan. 29, 2015).
Is a marsh buggy a vessel affording Jones Act seaman status to the claimant?
After removing this GML suit brought as a 905(b) claim from state to federal court, the plaintiff amended the suit to assert a Jones Act and unseaworthiness claim and dismissing other claims. Defendant Marsh Buggies then brought a Motion for Summary Judgment asserting that the marsh buggy is not a vessel and thus the plaintiff could not be a Jones Act seaman.
In support of the MSJ, defendant offered an affidavit attesting to the characteristics of the equipment:
- They are excavating equipment that Marsh Buggies placed on pontoons and tracking;
- They do not have any sort of bow;
- They are capable of floating, but have limited mobility and minimal steering capacity in water, instead the pontoons and tracking must guide the equipment;
- They have no means of self-propulsion while floating and must be pushed and steered by a support vessel if there is any current or wind;
- Their operation is limited to land and marsh-like areas in shallow, calm water that cannot be reached by traditional land excavating equipment or a work barge;
- Their excavating function cannot be used unless they aregrounded in three feet of water or less.
The trial judge denied the motion on the basis that "there are disputed issues of fact regarding the marsh excavators' capability of self-propulsion on water that impact whether a reasonable observer would consider them designed to a practical degree for carrying people and things over water."
