Crutchfield v. Atlas Offshore Boat Service, Inc., Civ. A. No. 74-2524.
| Citation | 403 F. Supp. 920 |
| Decision Date | 23 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 74-2524. |
| Parties | Grover C. CRUTCHFIELD v. ATLAS OFFSHORE BOAT SERVICE, INC., et al. |
| Court | United States District Courts. 5th Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of Louisiana) |
Dodd, Barker, Boudreaux, Lamy & Gardner, Harold J. Lamy, New Orleans, La., for plaintiff.
Donald L. King, Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, New Orleans, La., for Gulf Oil Corp. Drury, Lozes & Curry, H. Edward Weidlich, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Superior Welding.
On February 22, 1974, Grover Crutchfield was injured while assisting in loading pipe onto a vessel from a dock. Crutchfield was working for Packard, Inc. Employees of Superior Welding, Inc. were also engaged in the loading activity. Atlas Offshore Boat Service, Inc. owned and operated the vessel on which the pipe was being loaded. All three of these companies were working under contract with Gulf Oil Corporation. Alleging negligence by each defendant, Crutchfield sued Superior Welding, Atlas Offshore, and Gulf. Gulf filed a third party complaint against Packard based upon an indemnity clause in the contract between these two parties. Packard now seeks summary judgment on the third party complaint.
Packard argues that the indemnity agreement with Gulf is void under the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA, in particular 33 U.S.C. § 905. The relevant portion of that section states:
(b) 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 and any agreements or warranties to the contrary shall be void.
Prior to the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA, the statute contained no express prohibition against indemnity agreements. The 1972 amendments proscribed indemnity agreements between the employer of the injured worker and the vessel. There is no indication in the statute or the legislative history that Congress intended to invalidate all indemnity agreements between the employer and...
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