Greta Magnussen v. Yak, Inc., a Washington Corporation

Plaintiff sued her former employer, YAK, Inc., for personal injuries under the Jones Act, 46 App.U.S.C. § 688, and the maritime doctrine of unseaworthiness. The jury returned verdicts for plaintiff on the negligence claim and for defendant on the unseaworthiness claim. The district court denied defendant’s motion for judgment as a matter of law but granted its motion for a new trial on the ground that the jury’s verdicts were inconsistent. At the new trial, the jury returned a verdict for defendant. We have jurisdiction of plaintiff’s appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

FACTS

While carrying a pot to the stove in the galley of defendant’s fish processing vessel, the YARDARM KNOT, plaintiff slipped and fell. Hitting the edge of the stove, she sustained severe injuries. Adjacent to the stove were- a deep-fat fryer, an oven, and a hot plate. Plaintiff testified that she slipped on a spot of water, oil, water overlying oil, or something else. A coworker observed two spots of oil under the edge of the stove.

Plaintiff was an experienced chef in commercial kitchens ashore and afloat. A few months before her fall, she had been hired as the head chef of the YARDARM KNOT where she supervised…