Justice Lucy Billings
After observing Furina, a pier superintendent, drive two trucks while overseeing and assisting loading freight onto a ship, officers arrested him for working as a longshoreman without being on the register. After a hearing, the Waterfront Commission, revoked Furina’s temporary pier superintendent permit, and denied his application for a permanent permit. Furina sought reversal of the determination. The court ruled the commission failed to provide any statute or regulation forbidding a pier superintendent from minimal physical loading of freight as part of his supervisory duties. It noted while loading freight was among the duties within the definition of a longshoreman, the inclusion of that duty did not exclude it from either the duties or activities of a pier superintendent. The court noted supervision “naturally and reasonably involves occasional assistance with a subordinate’s duties,” stating that to hold that to “act as a longshoreman” was to engage in any activity that overlapped with a longshoreman’s duties would render many of the necessary and inevitable duties of a pier superintendent inherently criminal. Thus, it granted the petition, reinstating Furina’s temporary permit, and granted his application for a permanent permit.
