In a decision dated May 23, 2019, the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that expert medical testimony on causation is not necessarily required in Jones Act negligence cases. The court reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment for the employer on the basis that the seaman could not show medical causation without expert testimony. The court stated that while expert testimony would likely be required in certain Jones Act cases involving toxic torts and complex medical causation, it is not required when causation can be inferred by common sense and everyday experiences of the jury.

In the present instance, the seaman alleged that he injured his left foot when he stepped off the last rung of a ladder that was dangerously raised four feet off the floor. He also claimed that there was clutter beneath the ladder that required him to jump off to the left. The seaman’s common-sense argument that “[i]t is something anyone can understand; you cannot step off a 48-inch-high ladder rung to a metal floor and expect to not get injured” was enough to survive summary judgment. The case is Gowdy v. Marine Spill Response Corporation, Docket No. 17-41198 in the court of appeal.