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don't remember the type of his injury now. He then made a claim under workmen's compensation against his employer, who was a contracting company. The insurance company that represented this contracting company came in and said, “Oh no, we're not liable. The only claim this man's got is under the maritime law.”

“Why?”

“Because he was on an object floating in the water - a raft. It was floating in the water. Therefore he was on a vessel. The raft is a vessel. Therefore his only claim is under maritime law.”

I raised questions as to what the name of the raft was and so forth. They didn't go back to the basic maritime law, but he was working on a floating vessel. It was a very hotly contested case. They brought in all the great maritime lawyers. Poor Mahti Latti was getting nothing. He didn't get any money either way because he'd made his claim against his employer who was covered by workmen's compensation insurance, had a policy with an insurance company who was refusing to pay it on the grounds that his only remedy was a suit under the maritime act, under which he would have gotten almost nothing because nobody knew who the raft belonged to. As a matter of fact, the workmen had knocked it together themselves to make a convenient place to stand on.