Baccile v. Halcyon Lines, 10213

• Decision Date: 21 February 1951
• Docket Number: No. 10213,10219.,10213
• Parties: BACCILE v. HALCYON LINES et al. (two cases).
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

187 F.2d 403 (1951)

BACCILE v. HALCYON LINES et al. (two cases).

Nos. 10213, 10219.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued November 14, 1950.

Decided February 21, 1951.

Thomas E. Byrne, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa. (Krusen, Evans & Shaw, John T. Phillips, Edward J. Mingey, Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for Haenn Ship Ceiling and Refitting Corporation.

Thomas F. Mount, Philadelphia, Pa. (Rawle & Henderson, Joseph W. Henderson, Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for Halcyon Lines.

Before McLAUGHLIN, KALODNER and STALEY, Circuit Judges.

KALODNER, Circuit Judge.

Salvadore Baccile was employed by Haenn Ship Ceiling and Refitting Corporation ("Haenn"), a Pennsylvania corporation engaged to do work aboard the "Stad Vlaardingen", a vessel owned and operated by Halcyon Lines and Vinke and Company ("Halcyon"), corporation of The Netherlands. At the time involved, the "Stad Vlaardingen" was in the port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Baccile was working in the No. 2 grain fitting of the vessel when a plank on which he was standing gave way, so that he fell approximately thirty feet to the bottom of the hold and sustained serious injuries. He then brought this action at law against Halcyon, and Halcyon filed a third-party complaint against Haenn, alleging in the amended complaint, that either Haenn was solely accountable for Baccile's injuries, or it was liable to contribute to any judgment obtained by Baccile against Halcyon.

Halcyon settled Baccile's claim for $65,000, and agreed to the entry of judgment against themselves in that amount, apparently upon an arrangement with Haenn not recited in the record. Halcyon then proceeded with the trial of their claim for contribution against Haenn. On specific interrogatories, the jury determined that Haenn was negligent and that 75% of Baccile's damages was attributable to it. The District Judge, however, molded the verdict to equal liability, and accordingly gave judgment to Halcyon against Haenn for 50% of the amount Halcyon had agreed to pay Baccile. The integrity of the settlement, or the propriety of the amount of it, was not questioned by Haenn in the court below, nor is it now.

Both Halcyon and Haenn appeal: Haenn, in No. 10,213, because of the judgment against it, and Halcyon, in No. 10,219, because of the action of the District Judge in altering the jury verdict. The substance of Halcyon's contentions is that the admiralty law recognizes comparative contribution and the trial judge was without warrant upon the record to alter the verdict. The substance of Haenn's contentions is, first, that it was not guilty of negligence, but if it were, the only negligence lay in its failure to inspect, for which it would be entitled to indemnity from Halcyon, in any event, since Halcyon owed the primary duty to furnish a safe place to work; and second, that its exclusive liability is to pay compensation to its injured employee under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C.A. § 901, et seq., pursuant to which it had secured the payment of compensation to its employees Haenn also asserts error in the court below in the admission of certain evidence relating to the performance of its work.

On a review of the record, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence upon which the jury could reasonably find Haenn negligent, not merely in failing to inspect, but as well in failing to go about its work properly. Nor do we regard it as error for the trial court to have admitted the evidence of what Haenn "could have done". That testimony was given by an experienced and qualified seaman. It furnished the jury with knowledge, in a specialized field, of the alternatives available to Haenn which the jury might not otherwise appreciate. The jury were thus enabled to determine, from all of the evidence, whether Haenn went about its work in a reasonable manner. But even if the admission of this testimony were error, we do not regard it of such prejudicial stature as to demand a new trial for correction.

We reach, then, the significant question whether, as between the mutual wrongdoers Halcyon and Haenn, the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act is in any degree a defense to Halcyon's claim for contribution. Upon principles of the controlling maritime law,¹ our answer is that Haenn has a liability over to Halcyon limited, however, by the amount of compensation payable to Baccile had he elected, as was his right,² to receive compensation under the Act.

In so deciding we are cognizant that contribution between tortfeasors is generally predicated upon a common liability, which in this situation has been held not to exist. American Mutual Liability Co. v. Matthews, 2 Cir.1950, 182 F.2d 322. As Professor Prosser points out,³ the term "joint tortfeasors" is the subject of much confusion; and where contribution, which could be had at common law only in particular situations, is allowed, liability in solido is accounted for by the difficulty of assessing the actual damages attributable to the respective tortfeasors. In a strict sense it may be said that no common liability exists here because Haenn was responsible to Baccile for compensation regardless of its fault, but not in a greater amount than provided in the statutory schedule. Notwithstanding, literal adherence to concepts derived from the common law would not seem appropriate in a system of jurisprudence that has developed rules according to its own sense of right,⁴ even contrary to those of the common law. The admiralty law early recognized that contributory negligence was not necessarily a bar to recovery,⁵ and it devised the "moiety rule" to satisfy a singular desire "for a better distribution of justice between mutual wrongdoers."⁶ And where comparative negligence is said to be "not unknown",⁷ the requirement of common liability cannot be deeply ingrained, for the equity of the one is inconsistent with the concept of liability in solido attaching to the other. While Haenn was responsible to Baccile regardless of its fault, Haenn's negligence in fact brought to fruition his right to compensation. In a pragmatic sense, therefore, Haenn and Halcyon were, to use the preferable admiralty law description, "mutual wrongdoers".

In the absence of compelling reason to the contrary, we should be unwilling to accept as satisfactory the conclusion necessary to Haenn's position here, that an injured person, by unhampered election, may cast upon one of his two wrongdoers the entire burden of his loss. The compelling reason advanced is the Compensation Act. We shall see.

As between the employer and a stranger contributing to the injury of an employee, the Act unquestionably falls short of cover. It provides, as we have already noted, that the employee may sue a third party in lieu of taking compensation from his employer. But if the employee fails in such action to recover as much as the statutory compensation, the employer must...