Chugach Management Services v. Jetnil, No. 15-72873 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseThe zone of special danger doctrine can apply to local nationals working in their home countries under employment contracts covered by the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, as extended by the Defense Base Act (DBA). The Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of a decision of the United States Department of Labor's Benefits Review Board (BRB) awarding disability benefits, pursuant to the DBA, to Edwin Jentil. Jentil was employed by a U.S. government contractor when he was injured. The panel held that the ALJ and BRB did not commit legal error by applying the zone of special danger doctrine to Jetnil. In this case, substantial evidence supported the ALJ and BRB's decision that Jetnil was entitled to disability benefits because his injury arose out of the zone of special danger associated with his employment.
Court Description: Defense Base Act The panel denied a petition for review of a decision of the United States Department of Labor’s Benefits Review Board (“BRB”) awarding disability benefits, pursuant to the Defense Base Act, to Edwin Jentil, who was employed by petitioner U.S. government contractor Chugach Management Services when he was injured. The Defense Base Act is a workers’ compensation scheme for civilian employees working outside of the continental United States on military bases or for companies under contract with the U.S. government. Jentil was a citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and was injured while on a work assignment for Chugach on the remote Kwaljalein Atoll, which houses the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Site. Under the judicially created “zone of special danger doctrine,” employees may be compensated for “injuries resulting from reasonable and foreseeable recreational activities in isolated or dangerous locales.” Kalama Servs., Inc. v. Dir., Office of Workers’ Comp. Programs, 354 F.3d 1085, 1091 (9th Cir. 2004).
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