Wilson v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 97-1804

• Decision Date: 02 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 97-1804,97-1804
• Citation: 150 F.3d 1
• Parties: Eric WILSON, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. MARITIME OVERSEAS CORPORATION and Cambridge Tankers, Inc., Defendants, Appellant. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 1

150 F.3d 1

1999 A.M.C. 402

Eric WILSON, Plaintiff, Appellee, v. MARITIME OVERSEAS CORPORATION and Cambridge Tankers, Inc.,

Defendants, Appellant.

No. 97-1804.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard Dec. 2, 1997.

Decided July 10, 1998.

Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc Denied Aug. 18, 1998.

Thomas E. Clinton, with whom Clinton & Muzyka, P.C., was on brief for Maritime Overseas Corporation and Cambridge Tankers, Inc.

Michael B. Latti, with whom Carolyn M. Latti and Latti Associates LLP, were on brief for Eric Wilson.

Before TORRUELLA, Chief Judge, ALDRICH, Senior Circuit Judge, and LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

TORRUELLA, Chief Judge.

Eric Wilson, chief mate on an oceangoing oil tanker owned by defendant-appellant Cambridge Tankers, Inc., was injured during a voyage as he attempted to repair hydraulic fluid lines that were leaking inside one of the main cargo holds. He filed suit in the district court against Cambridge Tankers, as well as against his employer, Maritime Overseas Corporation, asserting claims under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.App. § 688, for negligence, and under the general maritime law for unseaworthiness and for maintenance and cure. After trial, the jury awarded Wilson $2,000,000 in compensatory damages. The defendants now appeal from the verdict, arguing that the district court erred both in failing to instruct the jury on comparative negligence and the primary duty rule, and in denying their motion for a remittitur. We remand for a new trial on all issues.

I. Background

"We ... review the evidence developed at trial in the light most favorable to [the verdict]." Toucet v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 991 F.2d 5, 7 (1st Cir.1993).

The plaintiff, Eric Wilson, was employed as a chief mate by Maritime Overseas Corporation on the M/T OVERSEAS BOSTON, which was owned, operated, and controlled by Cambridge Tankers, Inc. (collectively, "the defendants"). On January 19, 1994, the OVERSEAS BOSTON was approximately 75 miles off the western coast of Mexico on its way to Valdez, Alaska. The plaintiff was in a Zodiac inflatable raft in the vessel's No. 2 center cargo tank ("tank No. 2C") trying to patch two leaking hydraulic lines.

The decision to patch the lines while the OVERSEAS BOSTON was underway was made jointly by the captain, the chief engineer, and Wilson, the chief mate. Several hydraulic lines had been leaking since at least 1991, and Wilson and others had placed numerous requests with the vessel's owners to replace the lines at a shipyard. ¹ The hydraulic lines, made out of copper beryllium, control the valves that regulate the flow of petroleum into and out of the ship. The leaks in the lines were a constant source of worry on the OVERSEAS BOSTON because, if the hydraulic system failed, the valves could open without warning, creating the possibility of an oil spill. The defendants' established procedure for patching hydraulic lines was to fill the tank with seawater to a height sufficient to allow a seaman on a raft floating inside the tank to reach the hydraulic line in question. The leaking section of pipe is then cut and replaced with a new stainless steel section. There was no other equipment available on the OVERSEAS BOSTON with which to repair the lines. ²

The lines that Wilson was patching on the day of the accident ran vertically down one side of tank no. 2C. These lines were leaking near the top of the tank, which is seventy-five feet deep. To reach the lines, Wilson had the tank filled up to approximately the sixty-five foot mark, so that the raft could float within eight to ten feet of the deck above. However, the underside of the deck on the OVERSEAS BOSTON is spanned from port to starboard by large metal I-beams, whose vertical span is about five feet. Thus, the clearance between the bottom of each beam and the surface of the water was only approximately three to five feet.

Wilson and a seaman climbed aboard the raft, and Wilson knelt in the forward section to paddle the raft toward the leaking lines. The beams were about one or two feet above his head. Proceeding in this manner, Wilson and the seaman went under two beams without incident. Unbeknownst to Wilson, however, the vessel changed course while he was still paddling. Although the captain and officers on the bridge knew that Wilson was in the tank, and could communicate with him by hand-held radio, they failed to warn him of the impending change of course. Unfortunately, there was a wave in the tank (attributed by Wilson to the change in course), which lifted the raft and slammed Wilson against a beam.

Although he was in pain, Wilson assumed that he had not been seriously injured, and decided to continue patching the lines. When he exited the tank about an hour later, he mentioned to the chief engineer that he had hurt his back. The captain examined Wilson's back, and told him to rest in his cabin until he felt better. The pain did not go away, however, and Wilson left the ship to be examined by doctors. He was told at first that his pain was most likely due to a bad sprain and injury to the soft tissues along his spine. After several months, however, Wilson was still in pain, especially when he bent his back or climbed stairs. Wilson thus consulted a second doctor, who determined that Wilson had fractured his spine at the T8 vertebra. Wilson remained on medical leave the rest of 1994, during which he underwent various rehabilitative treatments for his injury, including wearing a back brace for four months, and receiving frequent steroid injections to build up the muscles in his back.

In January 1995, Wilson's condition had improved enough that he was allowed to go back to work as a chief mate on a trial basis. He was assigned to work on the OVERSEAS NEW YORK while it was moored for maintenance and repairs in Portland, Oregon. This trial period lasted for sixty-five days, during which it became apparent that Wilson's ability to perform his duties as a chief mate was compromised by the pain that he frequently suffered while climbing stairs or performing other physically-strenuous tasks. Nevertheless, his performance of other duties was exemplary, and he was recommended for promotion to captain, which was a less physically-demanding job.

During the summer of 1995, in preparation for his imminent promotion, he was assigned to the OVERSEAS CHICAGO for approximately one month attached to its captain in preparation for his own promotion to captain. Captain Olsen, the OVERSEAS CHICAGO's captain, reported that Wilson had performed very well, and that his promotion was both warranted and due. A short time later, Wilson was asked to obtain a medical certificate that he was fit for administrative duties as captain.

After obtaining a certification that he was fit for administrative duty as a captain, Wilson was assigned to relieve Captain Olsen on the OVERSEAS CHICAGO, which was berthed in Portland, Oregon. On August 15, 1995, he flew out to Portland, went to the OVERSEAS BOSTON, and exchanged command of the ship with Captain Olsen. An hour or two later, Captain Olsen returned and told Wilson that he had to speak to his superiors at Maritime Overseas' headquarters in New York. When Wilson placed the call, he was told that the medical certificate was not satisfactory, because it did not certify that he was fully fit for any duty on the ship. Captain Olsen was ordered to relieve Wilson of his command and march him off the ship. Wilson was given $500 and told to stay at a nearby hotel until the matter could be sorted out. However, after waiting several days without hearing anything further, Wilson flew back to his home in Maine.

Soon afterwards, Wilson filed the instant suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleging both diversity and federal question jurisdiction. See 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1332. In his complaint, Wilson claimed that his injuries were caused both by the OVERSEAS BOSTON's unseaworthy condition and by the bridge officers' failure to warn him of the impending course change. ³ In their answer to the complaint, the defendants denied Wilson's allegations of unseaworthiness and negligence, and claimed as affirmative defenses that the sole cause of Wilson's injuries was either his own negligence, or his failure to properly perform his duties as chief mate.

A jury trial started on February 10, 1997. At the end of the plaintiff's case, the defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law on the unseaworthiness and negligence claims. On February 19, 1997, the last day of trial, the district court summarily denied the motion. The court also denied the defendants' request that he instruct the jury on comparative negligence and the primary duty rule, as well as their request that the jury questionnaire contain questions on those affirmative defenses.

The following day, the jury returned a special verdict for Wilson, finding that the OVERSEAS BOSTON was unseaworthy, that the defendants had been negligent, that both the unseaworthiness and negligence had been proximate causes of Wilson's injuries, that his pre- and post-judgment damages totaled $2,000,000, and that he was entitled to pre-judgment interest. On February 28, 1997, the district court entered judgment in accordance with the verdict in the amount of $2,139,804.93.

The defendants timely filed three post-judgment motions: a renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law, a motion for a new trial, and a motion for remittitur. The district court denied all three motions by means of a one-page order dated June 5, 1997. The defendants now appeal from the denial of their motions.

II. Objections to instructions

A. Standard of review

The defendants' primary argument is that the jury's verdict should be set aside and the case remanded for a new trial because the jury instructions and questionnaire were incorrect as a matter of law, and because these errors prejudiced them. Before reaching the merits of the...