Beadle v. Spencer

Citation80 L.Ed. 1082,298 U.S. 124,56 S.Ct. 712
Decision Date27 April 1936
Docket NumberNo. 676,676
PartiesBEADLE v. SPENCER
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Mr. Harold M. Sawyer, of San Francisco, Cal., for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from page 125 intentionally omitted] Mr. John L. McNab, of San Francisco, Cal., for respondent.

Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case certiorari was granted, 297 U.S. 701, 56 S.Ct. 573, 80 L.Ed. 990, to review a ruling of the Supreme Court of California, 48 P.(2d) 678, that assumption of risk is not a defense to a suit brought by a seaman under the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920, § 33) 41 Stat. 1007, 46 U.S.C. § 688 (46 U.S.C.A. § 688), to recover for personal injuries due to the negligent failure of the officers of the vessel to provide him with a safe place in which to work.

Respondent was employed by petitioner as a seaman on a coasting vessel. While engaged in unloading lumber from the deck he was injured by a fall into an open hatch. On the trial there was evidence from which the jury could have found that the deck of the vessel, from the bulwarks to within about 40 inches of either side of the hatch coamings, was loaded with heavy timbers, and that the remaining deck space, at the sides of the hatch, was loaded with loose lumber, consisting of pieces 2 X 3 and 1 12 , to a height 5 or 6 feet above the deck; that this lighter lumber, or a substantial part of it, had been loaded in sling loads, without repiling, in such negligent fashion as to render it unstable; that the pile of lumber, with the open hatch alongside, constituted an unsafe place to work for those required to go upon it, as the master knew; and that the upper part of the pile of lumber, on which respondent was standing in order to adjust a sling about some of the lumber to be unloaded, toppled over because of its instability, throwing him through the open hatch into the hold and causing the injuries complained of. The trial court refused requests to charge that assumption of the risk by respondent was a defense, but left it to the jury to say whether there was negligent failure of the master to provide a safe place for the respondent to work, and whether the failure was the proximate cause of the injury. It reduced the jury's verdict for respondent and gave judgment accordingly which the state supreme court sustained.

Numerous grounds for reversal are urged here, of which only two require our notice. One is petitioner's contention that even though assumption of risk is not generally a defense to a suit brought under the Jones Act, it must be deemed available where, as in the present case, the injured seaman is employed on a coasting vessel which was in port at the time of the accident. It is argued that as he was not required to sign art cles, 18 Stat. 64, 46 U.S.C. § 544 (46 U.S.C.A. § 544) compare 46 U.S.C. § 563 (46 U.S.C.A. § 563), and consequently was not subject to the punishment for desertion prescribed by 46 U.S.C. §§ 701—713 (46 U.S.C.A. §§ 701—713), he was free to avoid the risk by leaving the vessel and his employment. The other objection is that the trial court erred in refusing petitioner's request to charge that if the jury should find that respondent, in placing the sling underneath the lumber, 'chose to perform the act in a dangerous manner such as stepping too near the edge of the deck load when there was a safe method of doing the work involving no risk of the edge of the deck load giving away, then the plaintiff cannot recover.'

1. The effect of the Jones Act in bringing into the maritime law new rules of liability prescribed by the Federal Employers' Liability Act (45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51—59), has been considered in The Arizona, 298 U.S. 110, 56 S.Ct. 707, 80 L.Ed. —-, decided this day, and does not require extended discussion here. The injury resulting to the employee from the negligently piled lumber, in proximity to the open hatch, is made actionable by the Jones Act, by its adoption for the maritime law of the provisions of the Employers' Liability Act, which specifically imposes liability for negligence of officers and fellow employees, and for defects in equipment due to negligence. See Zinnel v. United States S.B.E.F. Corporation (C.C.A.) 10 F.(2d) 47; The Valdarno (C.C.A.) 11 F.(2d) 35; Howarth v. United States S.B.E.F. Corporation (C.C.A.) 24 F.(2d) 374; Hanson v. Luckenbach S.S. Co. (C.C.A.) 65 F.(2d) 457. Before the enactment of the Jones Act it was recognized that a 'failure to supply and keep in order the proper appliances appurtenant to the ship' is equivalent to unseaworthiness, and that it was likewise actionable under the maritime law, if it caused injury to a seaman. See The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 175, 23 S.Ct. 483, 47 L.Ed. 760. Judge Addison Brown, sitting in admiralty, had allowed recovery to a seaman for injuries received in unloading lumber in circumstances substantially like the present, in The Frank and Willie (D.C.) 45 F. 494, cited with approval in The Osceola, supra, 189 U.S. 158, 174, 23 S.Ct. 483, 47 L.Ed. 760. See, also, Carlisle Packing Co. v. Sandanger, 259 U.S. 255, 259, 42 S.Ct. 475, 66 L.Ed. 927; Olson v. Flavel (D.C.) 34 F. 477.

2. It is unnecessary to repeat here the reasons given in the opinion in The Arizona, supra, for our conclusion that assumption of risk is not a defense to a suit brought by a seaman under the Jones Act for negligent failure of the master to provide safe appliances or a safe place in which to work. Those reasons neither require nor admit of a different rule because of the circumstances of respondent's employment on which the petitioner relies. The rules, peculiar to admiralty, of liability for injuries to seamen or others, are as applicable when the injury occurs...

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  • Garrett v. Cormack Co
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    ...in admiralty or under the Jones Act, and the state courts are required to apply this rule in Jones Act actions. Beadle v. Spencer, 298 U.S. 124, 56 S.Ct. 712, 80 L.Ed. 1082. Similarly state courts may not apply their doctrines of assumption of risk in actions arising under the Act. The Ariz......
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    ...480, 483, 26 L.Ed. 521. 26 Cf. The Arizona v. Anelich, 298 U.S. 110, 123, 56 S.Ct. 707, 711, 80 L.Ed. 1075; Beadle v. Spencer, 298 U.S. 124, 128, 56 S.Ct. 712, 713, 80 L.Ed. 1082. 27 Per Holmes, Circuit Justice, in Johnson v. United States (C.C.A.) 163 F. 30, 32, 18 L.R.A.(N.S.) 1194; cf. G......
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    ...Black, op. cit., supra, 376 377. 7. See Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. v. Smith, 305 U.S. 424, 59 S.Ct. 262, 83 L.Ed. 265; Beadle v. Spencer, 298 U.S. 124, 56 S.Ct. 712, 80 L.Ed. 1082; The Arizona v. Anelich, 298 U.S. 110, 56 S.Ct. 707, 80 L.Ed. 8. The cause of action for negligence did not of cours......
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    ...927; The Arizona v. Anelich, supra, 298 U.S. at page 120 et seq., 56 S.Ct. at page 710, 80 L.Ed. 1075; Beadle v. Spencer, 298 U.S. 124, 128, 129, 56 S.Ct. 712, 713, 714, 80 L.Ed. 1082; Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. v. Smith, supra, 305 U.S. at pages 428, 429, 432, 59 S.Ct. at pages 265, 267, 83 L.E......
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