By David G. Savage
Los Angeles Times
A house that floats on the water and has no power to move on its own is a home, not a vessel, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The 7-2 decision upholds laws in California, Washington and other states that say floating homes that are attached to the shore and do not travel are governed by local laws applying to homes, not by federal admiralty law regulating ships and boats.
The ruling will also affect operators of dockside casinos and restaurants, who will now be able to rely on the same state and local laws that protect property owners. State laws, for example, give some protection to store owners for accidents and injuries suffered by their customers or employees. But federal admiralty law gives more generous protections to sailors and harbor workers who are injured working on vessels.
In Tuesday’s opinion, the high court narrowed somewhat the definition of a vessel.
It is not “anything that floats,” said Justice Stephen G. Breyer, but something “actually used for transportation.”
