Owcp
Schwirse v. Director, Office of Workers Compensation Programs
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
Gary Schwirse petitions for review of the decision of the Benefits Review Board (BRB), affirming the denial by the administrative law judge (ALJ) of Schwirse’s claim for compensation under the Long-shore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA). We have jurisdiction under 33 U.S.C. § 921 (c) and deny the petition for review.
1. Under 33 U.S.C. § 903 (c), “[n]o compensation shall be payable if the injury was occasioned solely by the intoxication of the employee.” Schwirse argues that the concrete and metal slab, upon which Schwirse fell, was the cause of his injury not his intoxication. We find no error in the BRB’s interpretation of the term “injury” to mean the cause of the accident rather than the mechanism of the injury. “No special deference is accorded to the BRB’s interpretation of the LHWCA, but reasonable interpretations are respected.” Van Skike v. Dir., OWCP, 557 F.3d 1041, 1046 (9th Cir.2009). Including the mechanism of the injury as a cause in addition to intoxication would render the intoxication exception “insignificant, if not wholly superfluous.” See TRW Inc. v. Andrews, 534 U.S. 19, 31 , 122 S.Ct. 441 , 151 L.Ed.2d 339 (2001).
2. In considering a…