Icicle Seafoods, Inc. v. Worthington et al. (475 U.S. 709)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 21, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 475 U.S. 709 · 106 S. Ct. 1527
- Decided
- April 21, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1985
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. Respondents sued their employer, petitioner Icicle Sea-foods, Inc., to recover overtime benefits to which they thought they were entitled under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U. S. C. § 207(a)(1). After a 2-day trial, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington held that respondents were excluded from the overtime benefits of the FLSA by 29 U. S. C. § 213(b)(6), which excludes “any employee employed as a seaman.” Reviewing this issue under a “de novo” standard of review, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the judgment of the District Court, holding that respondents were not “seamen,” but instead were industrial maintenance employees on a barge that processed fish caught by a fishing fleet in the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest. 774 F. 2d 349 (1985). We granted certiorari to consider whether the Court of Appeals applied the appropriate standard of review in passing on the District Court’s judgment. 474 U. S. 900 (1985). The District Court made the following pertinent findings of fact related to whether respondents were “seamen” within the meaning of § 213(b)(6): “2. Defendant Icicle Seafoods owned and operated a seafood processing vessel named the ARCTIC STAR. Each of the Plaintiffs worked for Defendant on board the ARCTIC STAR as members of the Engineering…
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