Woods v. Sammisa Co., Ltd.

• Decision Date: 30 May 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-3113,88-3113
• Parties: John WOODS and Beverly Woods, Plaintiffs-Appellees, and Cooper/T. Smith Stevedores, Intervenor-Appellee, v. SAMMISA COMPANY, LTD., et al., Defendants. SAMMILINE COMPANY, LTD., and Hightworth Shipping Ltd., Defendants-Third Party Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees, v. PIONEER NAVIGATION, LTD., Defendant-Third Party Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 842

873 F.2d 842

1990 A.M.C. 230

John WOODS and Beverly Woods, Plaintiffs-Appellees, and Cooper/T. Smith Stevedores, Intervenor-Appellee, v. SAMMISA COMPANY, LTD., et al., Defendants.

SAMMILINE COMPANY, LTD., and Hightworth Shipping Ltd., Defendants-Third Party Plaintiffs-Appellants, Cross-Appellees, v. PIONEER NAVIGATION, LTD., Defendant-Third Party

Defendant-Appellee, Cross-Appellant.

No. 88-3113.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 30, 1989.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied June 30, 1989.

Robert H. Murphy, John H. Clegg, Dana H. Beer, Kenneth J. Servay, New Orleans, for Sammline Co., Ltd., et al.

Eldon E. Fallon, Stevan C. Dittman, New Orleans, La., for Woods.

Kevin J. LaVie, Andrew Martinez, New Orleans, La., for Pioneer Navigation.

John L. Duvieilh, Edward J. Koehl, Jr., New Orleans, La., for intervenor-Cooper/T. Smith.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Before GEE, SMITH and DUHE, Circuit Judges.

JERRY E. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

In this case, our primary task is to determine when, and to what extent, the defendants in this action--a vessel owner/operator and a time charterer--are liable for injuries suffered by a longshoreman while discharging cargo from the vessel. After a trial on the merits, the jury found, using the principles enunciated in Scindia Steam Navigation Co. v. De los Santos, 451 U.S. 156, 101 S.Ct. 1614, 68 L.Ed.2d 1 (1981), that both defendants, as well as the stevedore, the longshoreman's employer, were responsible for the longshoreman's injuries. The district court apportioned liability between the owner/operator and the time charterer according to the respective percentages of fault assigned to each by the jury. Both defendants appeal on numerous grounds. Because we conclude that two out of the three theories of liability on which the jury was charged should not have been presented to the jury, we vacate the judgment and remand for a new trial.

I.

A.

Plaintiff John Woods was a longshoreman employed by Cooper/T. Smith Stevedores ("Cooper/T. Smith" or the "stevedore") in New Orleans. In 1984, he was part of a crew of longshoremen assigned to discharge a quantity of steel pipe located in the hold of the M/V SAMMI HERALD. The hold contained two rows, running fore and aft along its length, of loosely-bundled steel pipe, stowed pipe-to-pipe with little dunnage. In the forward half of the hold was steel pipe bound for Houston (the "Houston pipe"); the aft half contained the pipe which Woods's crew was directed to discharge (the "New Orleans pipe"). The Houston pipe was stacked considerably higher than the New Orleans pipe.

When the longshoremen looked into the hold before beginning discharge operations, they immediately noticed that, to varying degrees, the aft ends of some of the Houston pipe overlapped the forward ends of the New Orleans pipe. All parties agree that the overlapping condition of the cargo was created by the stevedore that loaded the pipe in Brazil. Testimony at trial indicated that, although the overlapping condition of the cargo was not unprecedented, the more common method of stowing steel pipe was to leave an "alleyway" between the two sets of pipe such that either set of pipe could be lifted vertically without coming into contact with the other.

The longshoremen agreed among themselves that it was a "bad stow," and the crew's superintendent told members of the ship's crew that the discharge would have to proceed very slowly because of the cargo's condition. The crew, including Woods, nonetheless was instructed to discharge the New Orleans pipe, although it was told to proceed as carefully as necessary, even if that meant discharging the cargo one pipe at a time.

Woods and his fellow longshoremen began to discharge the New Orleans pipe using the "break out" method, taking small quantities of pipe and attempting to maneuver them around the overlapping Houston pipe and out of the hold. The discharge proceeded uneventfully for about two hours until disaster struck. While the crew was discharging a three- or four-pipe bundle of New Orleans pipe, the forward end of the bundle became "jammed" in some overlapping Houston pipe, which caused the aft ends of one or more pieces of the New Orleans pipe to swing violently in the direction of Woods and the other longshoremen standing nearby in the hold. The longshoremen attempted to run across the uneven surface of the pipe cargo to avoid being struck by the swinging pipe. Woods was unable to avoid serious injury, however, when he fell into a gap between several pipes and was struck by the swinging pipe.

B.

After collecting workers' compensation and medical benefits from Cooper/T. Smith, Woods and his wife sued Sammiline Company, Ltd. ("Sammiline"), the operator of the vessel, and Hightworth Shipping, Ltd. ("Hightworth"), the vessel's owner (collectively, the "owner/operator"), for damages under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C. Sec. 905(b). Cooper/T. Smith immediately intervened, seeking reimbursement of its payments made to Woods.

Sammiline and Hightworth denied liability; additionally, Hightworth filed a third-party complaint against Pioneer Navigation, Ltd. ("Pioneer"), the time charterer of the vessel, alleging that if the vessel interests were in any way responsible for Woods's injuries, Pioneer was the responsible party. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 14(c), Hightworth also tendered Pioneer as a direct defendant to the plaintiffs. To round out this flurry of procedural machinations, Pioneer cross-claimed against Hightworth, alleging that the owner/operator was solely responsible for Woods's injuries, and the Woodses then filed an amended complaint naming Pioneer as a defendant.

After a trial on the merits, the jury returned a verdict in which it found that the owner/operator, the time charterer, and the stevedore were all negligent and that each party's negligence was a legal cause of Woods's injuries. When asked to apportion responsibility for Woods's injuries, the jury found the owner/operator 10% responsible, the time charterer 25% responsible, and the stevedore 65% responsible. Finally, the jury awarded Woods $550,000 for his injuries, and Woods's wife $150,000 for loss of consortium.

The district court then considered the question of liability between the owner/operator and time charterer. It denied each party's claim for indemnity from the other and, because the stevedore was not a defendant in the action, apportioned the stevedore's 65% responsibility between the owner/operator (10/35 of 65%, or 18.57%) and time charterer (25/35 of 65%, or 46.43%) in proportion to the percentage of fault assessed by the jury against the two defendants. ¹ Judgment was entered accordingly, with Cooper/T. Smith recovering its past compensation and medical expenses out of Woods's recovery. ²

II.

Both the owner/operator and the time charterer vigorously contest the jury's findings that they were legally responsible for Woods's injuries. Because the defendants filed the requisite motions for directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict, we review the jury's findings using the standard enunciated in Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374-75 (5th Cir.1969) (en banc). Thus, we review the record to see whether "there is substantial evidence of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded [persons] in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions." Id. at 374.

A.

Title 33 U.S.C. Sec. 905(b), provides in pertinent part:

In the event of injury to a person covered under this chapter caused by the negligence of a vessel, then such person, or anyone otherwise entitled to recover damages by reason thereof, may bring an action against such vessel as a third party in accordance with the provisions of section 933 of this title, and the employer shall not be liable to the vessel for such damages directly or indirectly....

Neither the owner/operator nor the time charterer contends that it is not amenable to suit under section 905(b); ³ rather, their first argument on appeal is simply that they have not breached any duties owed to Woods.

In Scindia, the Supreme Court clarified the scope of the duties owed by a vessel to stevedores and longshoremen. Starting from the general proposition that a "shipowner may rely on the stevedore to avoid exposing the longshoremen to unreasonable hazards," 451 U.S. at 170, 101 S.Ct. at 1623, the Court stated that the vessel nonetheless "owes to the stevedore and his longshoremen employees the duty of exercising due care 'under the circumstances.' " Id. at 166, 101 S.Ct. at 1622 (quoting Federal Marine Terminals, Inc. v. Burnside Shipping Co., 394 U.S. 404, 415, 89 S.Ct. 1144, 1150, 22 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969)). The Court identified three aspects of this limited duty, only two of which are relevant here. ⁴

First, the Court indicated that the vessel must exercise ordinary care

to have the ship and its equipment in such condition that an expert and experienced stevedore will be able by the exercise of reasonable care to carry on its cargo operations with reasonable safety....

Id., 451 U.S. at 167, 101 S.Ct. at 1622. A corollary of this first Scindia duty, the Court explained, is that the vessel has a duty to warn the stevedore of any hazardous conditions on the ship or with respect to its equipment of which the stevedore cannot be expected to be aware, but of which the vessel has or should have knowledge. Id. Although the Court did not explicitly so hold, this duty apparently governs the vessel's conduct before stevedoring operations have begun. ⁵

The third Scindia duty is somewhat more nebulous and applies to the vessel's responsibilities once stevedoring operations are underway. As to this duty, the Court began its discussion by again postulating that "the shipowner has no general duty by way of supervision or inspection to exercise reasonable care to...