Judges & Prosecutors · Investigation · 2021–2026
A workplace injury. That is how the government classified an alleged rape.
A civilian engineer says she was drugged and raped in her own bed aboard a US Navy ship. Because she lived aboard in travel status, the assault was ruled a compensable workplace injury - and workers' comp her only remedy. So she could not sue.
FACT
§2 · Thesis
The state did not deny the harm. It reclassified it - into a category that took away her right to sue.
The doctrine is the story and it is FACT. The assault stays an allegation: the captain was never convicted.
§5 · Graded Claim
Dominguez v. United States was filed Nov 29, 2023 (D.N.J. 3:23-cv-22724) and closed Aug 11, 2026 after the Department of Labor ruled the rape a compensable workplace injury under FECA, whose remedy is exclusive.
FACT
Sanford Heisler filings; Stars and Stripes; public docket.
§5 · Graded Claim
The exclusivity rule is settled Supreme Court law: Johansen v. United States (1952) held FECA the exclusive remedy for a civilian crew member of a public vessel injured 'in the performance of his duty' - barring a Public Vessels Act suit.
FACT
Johansen v. United States, 343 U.S. 427 (1952).
§5 · Graded Claim
The hook was 'travel status': because she lived aboard, the government argued she was on the employer's premises around the clock, so harm off duty in her own bed still counted as an injury in the course of employment.
FACT
The argument the DOL FECA determination accepted (Stars and Stripes).
§5 · Graded Claim
Her allegation, attributed to the complaint: drugged ashore in Brindisi in Dec 2021, carried to her stateroom, she woke to the captain raping her after he entered with a master key code; passageway cameras had been broken over a year.
SOME SMOKE
Pleaded allegations, never tested at trial; the captain was never convicted.
§5 · Graded Claim
Reporting allegedly meant losing her job: a Civilian Victim Advocate told her an 'unrestricted report' would mean immediate removal from her post and being flown home until the investigation closed. She alleges she stayed aboard with the captain.
SOME SMOKE
Attributed to the complaint.
§5 · Graded Claim
The criminal track ended without a conviction: Coast Guard prosecutors charged Capt. Sanchez Padilla with sexual misconduct in Feb 2025, but the case was withdrawn and he surrendered his mariner credentials rather than stand trial.
FACT
Stars and Stripes (Aug 2026). No conviction; allegation unproven in court.
§5 · Graded Claim
It is not a one-ship freak result: the Military Sealift Command runs ~130 civilian-crewed public vessels whose crews live aboard in the same travel status, and the logic reaches any federal worker lodged on the employer's premises.
FACT
MSC fleet size (Stars and Stripes); the doctrine's own terms.
▦ Ledger gaps
Help us fill these lines.
- OpenThe full text of the Aug 11, 2026 dismissal order and the precise precedent language the court invoked (not yet on free RECAP).
- OpenWhether Congress acts on the advocacy push to carve sexual violence out of FECA's exclusive-remedy rule.
Help fill these →