U.S. 2nd: Longshore Act Gives Widow Latitude

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York has issued a ruling in a death benefits case that a plaintiff's attorney calls a landmark decision for the longshore industry. Rocco Morganti, a test engineer employed by Syracuse-based Lockheed Martin Naval Electronic & Surveillance Systems, drowned in December 2000 after he fell from a boat into Cayuga Lake. He was testing Lockheed transducers (a component required for sonar equipment used by the U.S. Navy) on Lockheed's floating work platform on Cayuga Lake when he fell into the lake while untying the boat. Rescue efforts failed...