Paul Guidry v. John Durkin

We set sail on a voyage over the waters of the ancient law of admiralty, swept along by our need to deal with one seaman’s claim that he was defamed by another in a telex message signaled from a Navy ship on the high seas. Following removal of this state court action to federal district court, the trial judge entered summary judgment against seaman Guidry on the ground of seaman Durkin’s absolute immunity as a federal official. After weathering the storms of conflicting jurisdictional arguments, we conclude that safe harbor cannot be found to hear this complaint in either court.

FACTS

Durkin was a civilian employed by the Department of the Navy (“Navy”) as Chief Engineer on the United States Naval Ship Passumpsic, a public vessel of the United States. On October 1,1984 the ship was at sea when Durkin received a telex message stating that Guidry, also a civilian employee of the Navy, would be assigned to the Passumpsic as Engine Utilityman.

In response to this news, Durkin drafted the following message and handed it to the telex operator on board the Passumpsic for transmission to shore:

Durkin’s message was sent to and received by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Pacific…