New LHWCA case from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It is unpublished (so I'll be brief) and the opinion is brief but provides an insight on appeals from Administrative Law Judges to the Benefits Review Board. The facts are brief: a worker was injured on a barge in the navigable waters. At issue was whether the LHWCA applied. The court found that under the situs test the LWHCA provided protection. Because the employer did not appeal the decision on whether the situs on a vessel made the LHWCA inapplicable, the court declined to rule that it was inapplicable.
Lesson here: Preservation of arguments for appeal drives the remedies that an appeal can provide.
The case is Great Southern Oil & Gas Co. v. Dir., OWCP, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 23658 and can be found here.
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