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Demette v. Falcon Drilling Company, Inc.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act applies to a rig jacked-up over the outer continental shelf; state law does not apply to this case by operation of the OCSLA, but the LHWCA does; and the LHWCA does not invalidate the indemnity agreement at issue.

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Appellee R & B Falcon Drilling USA, Inc. sued appellant Frank’s Casing & Crew Rental Tools, Inc. for indemnity when a Frank’s employee sued Falcon under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act*fn2 for injury sustained while working on a Falcon jack-up rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Frank’s argued that the indemnity agreement was voided by LHWCA or by Louisiana law. The district court held that the indemnity agreement was valid.

Determining the validity of the indemnity agreement requires a foray into the federal statutes defining the law applicable to offshore drilling on jack-up rigs. We first consider the application of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”)*fn3 and then construe the LHWCA. We conclude that the OCSLA applies to a rig jacked-up over the outer continental shelf; that state law does not apply to this case by operation of the OCSLA, but the LHWCA does; and that the LHWCA does not invalidate the indemnity agreement. We affirm.

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