West v. United States
| Decision Date | 07 December 1959 |
| Docket Number | No. 11,11 |
| Parties | Edgar Allen WEST, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATE v. America, United States Department of Commerce, Maritime Administration, et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Mr. Abraham E. Freedman, Philadelphia, Pa., for petitioner.
Mr. Leavenworth Colby, Washington, D.C., for respondents.
This is a libel filed pursuant to the Public Vessels Act, 46 U.S.C. § 781 et seq., 46 U.S.C.A. § 781 et seq., and involving the liability of a shipowner for injuries suffered by an employee of an independent contractor while working inside the main engine of a vessel as it was undergoing a complete overhaul at the contractor's repair docks in Philadelphia. Petitioner claims the vessel was unseaworthy and that respondent was negligent, in any event, in not furnishing him a safe place to work. The District Court denied recovery, 143 F.Supp. 473, and the Court of Appeals affirmed 3 Cir., 256 F.2d 671. We granted certiorari. 359 U.S. 924, 79 S.Ct. 606, 3 L.Ed.2d 627. We affirm the judgment.1
The findings of the trial judge, approved by the Court of Appeals, show that the S.S. Mary Austin is owned by the United States and was built during World War II as a 'Liberty' ship. It had been in the 'moth-ball fleet' at Norfolk, Virginia, in total deactivation for several years, with its pipes, boilers, and tanks completely drained, and an oil preservative injected through them to prevent rusting. In 1951 the vessel was ordered reactivated and a contractor, Atlantic Port Contractors, Inc., was selected to prepare her for sea duty, Under the specifications of the contract, Atlantic was to overhaul and reactivate the Mary Austin completely, 'cleaning and repairing all water lines, replacement of all defective or missing plugs and other parts, and the testing of all lines before closing and placing them in active operating condition.' The contractor was to have complete responsibility and control of the making of the repairs, with the right in the United States to inspect the work and materials to insure compliance with the contract. For this purpose, the United States placed six of its men—a captain, chief mate, second mate, chief engineer, assistant engineer, and steward—on board the vessel. However, they signed no shipping articles and had no 'control of the ship in the ordinarily accepted context,' their sole function being to serve as inspectors for the United States. Thereafter the respondent towed the Mary Austin to the repair docks of the contractor at Philadelphia and turned her over to it for the performance of the repair contract.
The petitioner, a shore-based employee of the contractor, was working inside the low pressure cylinder of the main engine of the ship when he was injured. He was kneeling on his right knee when an end plug from a one-inch pipe in the water system was propelled through the top of the open cylinder and hit his left knee. The findings indicate that the plug was loosely fitted on an overhead water pipe and that, when another employee of the contractor turned on the water without warning, the plug was forced off, hitting petitioner.
Recovery was sought on the theory that the vessel was unseaworthy in that the plug had been fitted insecurely on the pipe and was therefore incapable of withstanding the water pressure exerted upon it. In addition, petitioner claimed that the United States was liable for negligence in not maintaining a safe place for him to work, a duty asserted to be non-delegable and absolute.
Petitioner contends that he comes under the doctrine of Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 1946, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099, and subsequent cases, holding that the warranty of seaworthiness applies to shore-based workers while on board ship and performing work traditionally done by seamen. We do not think so. In Sieracki, the Court said that the warranty applied because such a shore worker 'is, in short, a seaman * * * doing a seaman's work and incurring a seaman's hazards.' Id., 328 U.S. 99, 66 S.Ct. 880. The findings here, however, show that, for several years, the Mary Austin was withdrawn from any operation whatever while in storage with the 'moth ball fleet.' The water had been drained from her water system and an antirust preservative was injected therein. Her subsequent towing to Philadelphia was for the specific purpose of delivery to Atlantic to render her seaworthy. The representation of the repair contract specifications was that she was not seaworthy for a voyage and that the major repairs called for therein would be necessary before one would be undertaken. It is evident that the sole purpose of the ship's being at Atlantic's repair dock at Philadelphia was to make her seaworthy. The totality of the reparation on the vessel included compliance with the hundreds of specifications in the contract calling for the repairing, reconditioning, and replacement, where necessary, of equipment so as to make fit all the machinery, equipment, gear, and every part of the vessel. Strangely enough, the defective water line and the metal plug specifically pointed to by petitioner as being defective were listed in the specifications for 'cleaning and repairing' and the 'replacement of all defective or missing plugs.' In short, as the trial court said, the work to be done on the vessel was equivalent to 'home port structural repairs.'
On the other hand, the vessels involved in the cases depended upon by petitioner2 were, at the times of the injuries, in the hands and under the control of the owners or charterers, and, instead of undergoing general repairs, were in active maritime service in the course of loading or unloading cargo pursuant to voyages. The workmen, like the seamen, depended upon the seaworthiness of the ships, their equipment, and gear. They were obliged to work with whatever the shipowners supplied and it was only fair for the latter to be subjected to the absolute warranty that the ships were seaworthy. But no such situa- tion is present here. The Mary Austin, as anyone could see, was not in maritime service. She was undergoing major repairs and complete renovation, as the...
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