Stainless Steel & Metal Mfg. v. Sacal VI, Inc.

• Decision Date: 28 March 1978
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 506-69.
• Citation: 452 F. Supp. 1073
• Parties: STAINLESS STEEL AND METAL MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. SACAL V. I., INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

452 F. Supp. 1073

STAINLESS STEEL AND METAL MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. SACAL V. I., INC., Defendant.

Civ. No. 506-69.

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

March 28, 1978.

Wilfredo A. Géigel, Santurce, P.R., for plaintiff.

José Antonio Fusté, Jiménez & Fusté, San Juan, P.R., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PESQUERA, District Judge,

This is an action pursuant to a maritime contract of transportation initially filed in the local courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and removed therefrom to this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1441 et seq. The basic facts were stipulated as part of the proposed pretrial order which was approved by the Court. Plaintiff's position is that in addition to a cause of action under the maritime contract for transportation, there exists a cause of action on its behalf pursuant to 31 LPRA 5141, that is, Puerto Rico's General Negligence Statute contained in the Civil Code, 1930 Edition. The defendant denies that this cause of action exists. The jurisdiction of this Court pursuant to the removal statute contained in 28 U.S.C. § 1441, et seq. and the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1333 is undisputed. Removal under 28 U.S.C. § 1337 and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Sea-Land Service, Inc., 349 F.Supp. 964 (DCPR 1973) is acceptable to the parties and the Court finds that insofar as that jurisdictional aspect the matter is well entertained.

The Basic Facts

It appears that on July 22, 1968 Sacal V. I., Inc., a maritime carrier engaged in maritime transportation, duly licensed by federal authorities, issued its bill of lading No. 10C-SE. Said bill of lading was issued mentioning that the ship which was to carry certain merchandise was to be the M/V Santa Inez on her voyage 130 from San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The shipper appears to be, from the facts of the bill of lading, Stainless Steel and Metal Manufacturing Corporation, of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and the consignee Harvey Aluminum, with address in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The notify party was the same as the consignee, i. e., Harvey Aluminum, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Among the description of packages and goods contained in said bill of lading, there appears a motor crane with a capacity of 2,480 cubic feet.

The vessel in question departed from the port of San Juan carrying, among other merchandise, the motor crane described, and upon arrival at the port of Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, defendant Sacal V. I., Inc. (hereinafter Sacal) proceeded with the discharge of the vessel in the following manner: On that particular occasion, a shore crane was rented by Sacal from Rental Equipment Co., which is not a party to this suit, to perform the discharge operations of the M/V Santa Inez. Upon unloading the motor crane in question from the top deck of the M/V Santa Inez by means of the shore crane leased from Rental Equipment Co., the motor crane unit was damaged when, as it was swung towards the pier, it caused the shore crane to move. This motion panicked the shore crane operator. He was unable to lower the motor crane properly losing control of the shore crane and causing the motor crane to fall against the dock.

As a result of this incident, the plaintiff claims that due to the negligence of the defendant the damages contemplated in the amended complaint dated August 2, 1969 were suffered by said plaintiff. Specifically it has been claimed that the plaintiff could not move the equipment on the day in question, incurring in losses for the day amounting to $350; that since there was no other crane available, it was impossible for it to commence contract work which further caused damages in the amount of $600; that the eventual work that was to be done with the use of the crane in St. Croix caused delayed work penalties amounting to $1,400; that an additional crane had to be rented from Robert L. Merwin & Co. with a cost of $5,000; that since the crane rented from Merwin was different to the one damaged there was a delay of fifteen days due to the inexperience of the operator of the second crane with a cost of $2,800 and that various miscellaneous disbursements were also incurred as a result of the accident, to wit, the need of a welding machine, a frame crane truck, gasoline, lumber, oxygen and acetylene amounting roughly to $1,270.¹

Defendant admitted that the accident occurred without any comparative negligence on the part of the plaintiff, being it understood that the admission was limited only to the act of dropping the crane from the M/V Santa Inez and without it being considered an admission of negligence on the part of the defendant.

The parties further stipulated that the motor crane allegedly damaged belonged at all material times to Mr. Rodolfo Martinez and not to Stainless Steel and Metal Manufacturing Corporation, who was the sole and exclusive plaintiff in this action.

Trial of this cause having been held before the Court, and upon examination of the evidence received therein together with the lengthy memoranda filed by the parties, we are of the opinion that the complaint in this case should be dismissed.

The Applicable Law

This case poses for decision important questions of the uniform application of Federal Maritime Law to cases arising within the navigable waters of the United States and specifically raises the issue of whether Puerto Rico's General Negligence Statute contained in the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, 1930 Edition, 31 LPRA 5141, is of application to a situation like the one now before our consideration. Plaintiff has also raised the possible applicability to this case of the Admiralty Extension Act, 46 U.S.C. § 740; the applicability of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 46 U.S.C. § 1300 et seq.; the possibility of equitable relief within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, as well as the right of a party who is not the owner of a damaged crane to bring an action for consequential damages as a result of its inability to use the crane at the port of destination to perform a contract with third parties after the same was rendered useless as a result of the accident described herein. We will consider the various points raised in the order mentioned above.

I

Plaintiff contends that pursuant to the "saving to suitor's clause" contained in 28 U.S.C. § 1333, it is entitled to bring an action pursuant to Puerto Rico's negligence statute, Section 1802 of the Civil Code, 31 LPRA 5141, and that in any event it is entitled to a remedy pursuant to the Admiralty Extension Act, 46 U.S.C. § 740.

Plaintiff's contention in this respect is twofold. We will thus give separate treatment to each portion of its argument. The true meaning and intent of the saving to suitor's clause is to permit a concurrency of federal and state judiciary in all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction (excluding those actions in rem and others limited to the federal judiciary) by virtue of decisions from the Supreme Court of the United States, with the understanding that in all cases filed either in local or federal courts, federal general maritime law is to apply. In order to bring forward the true import of the saving to suitor's clause the following exposition is necessary.

The saving to suitor's clause contained in 28 U.S.C. § 1333 proceeds from Section 9 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 which while bestowing "exclusive" admiralty jurisdiction on the United States District Courts, saved to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common law remedy where common law was competent to afford the same. Obviously, the exclusivity contained in the saving to suitor's clause and the saving itself are pretty much correlatives.

Summarily, the result of the cases is that a suitor who holds an in personam claim, which might be enforced by an action in personam in admiralty, may also bring suit, at his election, in the common law courts, that is, by ordinary civil action in the state courts, or in federal courts on the civil side, given diversity of citizenship and the required jurisdictional amount or any other jurisdictional ground like in this case, 28 U.S.C. § 1337. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Sea-Land Service, Inc., et al., 349 F.Supp. 964 (DCPR 1973).

While an action in personam may be brought in the state courts pursuant to the saving to suitor's clause or in the federal court on the civil side as aforementioned, if the claim asserted is in the nature of a maritime lien enforceable in admiralty by in rem process, only the courts of admiralty, that is, the federal courts sitting in admiralty may take jurisdiction. Thus, in the leading case of The Moses Taylor, 4 Wall. 411, 71 U.S. 411, 18 L.Ed. 397 (1867), a California statute, conferring on the state courts power to administer in rem proceedings against the vessel, was struck down as unconstitutional, and in The Hine v. Trevor, 4 Wall. 555, 71 U.S. 555, 18 L.Ed. 451 (1867), decided later in the same term of court, it is made explicit that the right to proceed in rem in any other court than the court of admiralty, that is, federal courts, cannot be saved to suitors by the saving clause, for such a proceeding is not a common law remedy at all. Where, on the other hand, a state court merely enforces or secures enforcement of its judgment by levy on or attachment of a vessel as part of the defendant's goods, with a view to compelling appearance or to subjecting the defendant's interest therein to sale to satisfy this judgment, this proceeding lacks the distinctive character of the proceeding in rem, is one known to the common law and is hence saved to suitors under the saving clause. Rounds v. Cloverport Foundry & Machine Co., 237 U.S. 303, 35 S.Ct. 596, 59 L.Ed. 966 (1915); Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Sea-Land Service, Inc., 349 F.Supp. 964 (DCPR 1973). See also in its general portions, Fireman's Insurance Co. of Newark v. Gulf P. R. Lines, 349 F.Supp. 952 (DCPR 1973) ...