Howard

Plaintiff filed a personal injury action under the Jones Act ( 46 U.S.C.A. § 688 ) and the general maritime law; defendant appeals from a judgment entered in plaintiff’s favor on a jury verdict. It contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that plaintiff was a “seaman” as a matter of law within the provisions of the act, and entitled to the warranty of seaworthiness. Additionally, it is urged that after giving an instruction defining “present cash value,” the trial court erroneously refused to furnish the jury with the “Present Value Table” (Appendix to BAJI No. 14.70); and that lacking the accurate guides furnished by the table, the jury arrived at an award considerably in excess of that reasonably warranted under the circumstances.

Plaintiff sustained severe lung damage, for which recovery was here sought, while working as a deep-sea diver for defendant corporation whose business consisted of offshore drilling for various oil companies on a worldwide basis; at the time in question, one of its drilling vessels (Glomar North Sea) was located at Bahrain Harbor in the Persian Gulf. Plaintiff was hired by defendant in Los Angeles as a diving supervisor and…