33 U.S.C. § 904

Liability for compensation

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(a) Every employer shall be liable for and shall secure the payment to his employees of the compensation payable under sections 907, 908, and 909 of this title. In the case of an employer who is a subcontractor, only if such subcontractor fails to secure the payment of compensation shall the contractor be liable for and be required to secure the payment of compensation. A subcontractor shall not be deemed to have failed to secure the payment of compensation if the contractor has provided insurance for such compensation for the benefit of the subcontractor.(b) Compensation shall be payable irrespective of fault as a cause for the injury.(Mar. 4, 1927, ch. 509, § 4, 44 Stat. 1426; Pub. L. 98–426, § 4(a), Sept. 28, 1984, 98 Stat. 1641.)Editorial NotesAmendments

1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–426 amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) read as follows: “Every employer shall be liable for and shall secure the payment to his employees of the compensation payable under sections 907, 908, and 909 of this title. In the case of an employer who is a subcontractor, the contractor shall be liable for and shall secure the payment of such compensation to employees of the subcontractor unless the subcontractor has secured such payment.”

Statutory Notes and Related SubsidiariesEffective Date of 1984 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 98–426 effective Sept. 28, 1984, and applicable both with respect to claims filed after Sept. 28, 1984, and to claims pending on that date, see section 28(a) of Pub. L. 98–426, set out as a note under section 901 of this title.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 248 cases (11 in the last 5 years), 1931–2026 · leading case: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority v. Johnson
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority v. Johnson (1984) scotus · cites it 8× “(part 2) 1426, 33 U. S. C. § 904 (a), makes general contractors responsible for obtaining workers' compensation coverage for the employees of subcontractors under certain circumstances.”
Monessen Southwestern Railway Co. v. Morgan (1988) scotus · cites it 2× “523 (1983), a case brought under the Longshoremen's and Harbor *334 Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U. S. C. § 904 . We held in Pfeifer that "whatever rate the District Court may choose to discount the estimated stream of future earnings, it must make a deliberate choice,…”
Hartland Dean West v. Kerr-Mcgee Corporation (1985) ca5 · cites it 3× “1 However, Section 904(a) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. § 904 (a) (1984), provides that “a contractor [such as Kerr-McGee] be liable for .”
Robert dePerrodil v. Bozovic Marine, Incorporated (2016) ca5 “When a third-party tortfeasor is responsible for the employee’s injury, cure and LHWCA insurance function in the same manner: the employer (or its insurer) has an immediate duty to pay medical expenses even though it is not at fault.”
Estep v. Construction General, Inc. (1988) dc · cites it 6× “33 U.S.C. §§ 904 & 905 (Supp. III 1985). In O'Connell , however, we held that the 1984 Amendments had no effect on District of Columbia law because the 1928 Act, to which they would have applied, no longer existed.”
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer (1983) scotus “1426 , 33 U. S. C. § 904 . As the owner pro hac vice of the barge, petitioner may also be liable for negligence under § 5 of the Act.”
David Vega-Mena v. United States (1993) ca1 · cites it 4× “Under the LHWCA, as under the Puerto Rico statute, an employer must “secure the payment to his employees of the compensation payable” under the LHWCA, 33 U.S.C. § 904 (a), and in exchange is liable to injured employees only to the extent of the workers’, compensation payments.”
McBride v. Metric Constructors, Inc. (1990) va · cites it 4× “33 U.S.C. § 904 (a) (1982), amended by 33 U.”
Howlett v. Birkdale Shipping Co., S.A. (1994) scotus “See 33 U. S. C. §§ 904 , 905(a); Norris, supra, §§4:7-4:10.”
Cornelius Hill Trudie Hastings Hill, H/w v. Reederei F. Laeisz G.M.B.H., Rostock Schiffarhtsgesellschaft Ms Priwall Mbh (2006) ca3 “33 U.S.C. § 904 (a). Longshoremen are, however, permitted to bring negligence actions against the ship on which they were injured.”
Jackson v. Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. (1967) scotus · cites it 2× “1426 , 1429, 33 U. S. C. §§ 904 , 909. [2] Id., § 44 Stat.”
Mark Morehead v. Atkinson-Kiewit, J/V (1996) ca1 · cites it 2× “33 U.S.C. § 904 . 4 This liability of employers is termed “exclusive and in place of all other liability of such employer to the employee.”
— 33 U.S.C. § 904(a) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.