Baggett v. Richardson

• Decision Date: 19 May 1972
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 69-283.
• Parties: Thomas BAGGETT v. Charley B. RICHARDSON et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

342 F. Supp. 1024

Thomas BAGGETT v. Charley B. RICHARDSON et al.

Civ. A. No. 69-283.

United States District Court. E. D. Louisiana.

May 19, 1972.

Lawrence K. Burleigh, Levy, Burleigh, Russo & Bourg, Morgan City, La., for plaintiff.

Victor H. Hess, Jr., Jackson & Hess, New Orleans, La., for defendants Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, AFL-CIO.

Wilfred H. Boudreaux, Jr., Dodd, Hirsch, Barker, Meunier, Boudreaux & Lamy, New Orleans, La., for Inland Boatmen's Union, Seafarers International Union of North America, AFL-CIO.

Robert J. Zibilich, New Orleans, La., for Charley B. Richardson.

Steven R. Plotkin, New Orleans, La., for James Martin.

ORDER

R. BLAKE WEST, District Judge.

This suit for damages for personal injuries is the result of an alleged assault and battery committed on the person of plaintiff by defendants, Charley B. Richardson and James Martin, aboard the Tug TERESA F. on the night of December 11, 1968. Richardson's employer, the Seafarers International Union of North America (S.I.U.), and Martin's employer, the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (M.E.B.A.), were also sued as defendants because of their alleged responsibility for the actions of Richardson and Martin based upon the doctrine of respondent superior. Plaintiff was the captain of the TERESA F. and an employee of the tug's owner, Red Circle Towing Company.

On the basis of the factual findings of the Court set forth herein and in view of the controlling legal authorities, the Court holds that there should be a judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendants, Charley B. Richardson and James Martin, in solido, in the amount of $3,000.00, and that there should be a judgment in favor of defendants, S.I.U. and M.E.B.A., dismissing plaintiff's claim against them.

The testimony of plaintiff and defendants, Richardson and Martin, concerning the events leading to the fracas in the captain's cabin aboard the TERESA F. on the night of December 11th, is, as might be expected, contradictory on almost all relevant points. Furthermore, despite the disclaimers by both plaintiff and defendant Martin, it is obvious to the Court, and the Court cannot but infer, that there was, to a pertinent degree, a background of "bad blood" between plaintiff and the defendant S.I.U. in general and defendant Martin in particular. This background, like the undersea part of an iceberg, is patently real and palpable, though, perhaps for reasons of enlightened self-interest, the parties have chosen to withhold it in substance from the record.

Few relevant facts are clearly established. Shortly after 10:45 o'clock on the night of December 11, 1968, defendants Richardson and Martin boarded the TERESA F. while it was moored at the premises of Red Circle Towing Company. They entered the galley, where Richardson remained briefly while Martin, for reasons not of record, went to Captain Baggett's cabin and knocked or banged on the door. A shouted and angry conversation, replete with the all too-familiar four-letter words, ensued. Thereafter, Martin entered the cabin, either on his own initiative, or after the door was opened by plaintiff. In any event, it was clear that Martin was anything but a welcomed visitor, because, according to Martin's own testimony, plaintiff ordered him off the vessel in unmistakably clear terms.

According to Martin, Baggett produced a piece of pipe. According to Baggett, the pipe was produced by Martin. In either event, a struggle ensued, during which, the Court holds that, as a matter of fact, Baggett hit Martin with the pipe with sufficient force to cut Martin above and to the outside of the left eye, cause profuse bleeding, and leave a rather impressive four-inch scar. Shortly thereafter Richardson entered the captain's cabin, found Martin and Baggett struggling over the pipe, Martin bleeding from the head. Thereafter, Richardson joined the fray, obtained possession of the pipe, and the conclusion is inescapable that Martin and Richardson delivered to Baggett a vicious, thorough, systematic and somewhat prolonged (5 to 10 minute) thrashing, and left him, shortly after 11:00 o'clock, unconscious in his cabin, with what Dr. Frensilli, who examined Baggett at 1:30 a.m. on December 12, 1968, described as multiple bruises of the face, neck, and body, and a closed, somewhat displaced fracture of the right ulna. It is apparent that the beating of plaintiff was loud and lengthy, that all persons aboard the TERESA F. at the time abandoned ship, and that Mate Kershaw cowered under a table in the Red Circle office while the captain was being thrashed.

The alleged tort in the instant case occurred aboard the TERESA F. while she was moored and afloat in the Intercoastal Canal in New Orleans, Louisiana and was therefore a "maritime tort". Although it is a fundamental principle of maritime law of the United States that it is to be uniform throughout the country, ". . . even though admiralty suits are governed by federal substantive and procedural law, courts applying maritime law may adopt state law by express or implied reference or by virtue of the interstitial nature of federal law". Alcoa S.S. Co. v. Charles Ferran & Co., 383 F.2d 46, 50 (5 Cir., 1967). Thus, in cases in which the issues are not touched by maritime law and where state law fills the gap in a manner not destructive of the uniformity admiralty seeks, the relevant state law applies. Watz v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., 431 F.2d 100 (5 Cir., 1970); Alcoa S.S. Co. v. Charles Ferran & Co., supra; The S.S. Samovar, 72 F.Supp. 574 (S.D. Cal., 1947). A state ". . . may establish rules applicable on land and water within its limits, even though these rules incidentally affect maritime affairs, provided that the state action `does not contravene any acts of Congress, nor work any prejudice to the characteristics of the maritime law, nor interfere with its proper harmony and uniformity in its international and interstate relations.'" Just v. Chambers, 312 U.S. 383, 389, 61 S.Ct. 687, 692, 85 L.Ed. 903, 908 (1941).

In the instant case, plaintiff and defendants couch their respective contentions primarily in terms of Louisiana law. Clearly, the application of Louisiana law in this case will not contravene any Acts of Congress, nor work any prejudice to the characteristics of the maritime law, nor interfere with its proper harmony and uniformity. Furthermore, the areas of tort law dealing with assault and battery and respondeat superior apparently are uniformly treated throughout the fifty states, and the law of Louisiana in these areas is representative of the law throughout the states.

The rule is well-established in Louisiana jurisprudence that when one, though first acting in self-defense, resorts to excessive violence and unnecessary force in...