Deffes v. Federal Barge Lines, Inc., Civ. A. No. 11113.

• Decision Date: 06 May 1964
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 11113.
• Citation: 229 F. Supp. 719
• Parties: Ernest O. DEFFES, Plaintiff, v. FEDERAL BARGE LINES, INC., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

229 F. Supp. 719

Ernest O. DEFFES, Plaintiff, v. FEDERAL BARGE LINES, INC., Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 11113.

United States District Court E. D. Louisiana, New Orleans Division.

May 6, 1964.

Edgar N. Quillin, Arabi, La., Sherman F. Raphael, New Orleans, La., for plaintiff.

Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, George Denegre, Edmond C. Salassi, New Orleans, La., for Federal Barge Lines, Inc. and Gulf-Canal Lines, Inc.

Adams & Reese, Richard C. Baldwin, Thomas J. Wyllie, New Orleans, La., for Continental Grain Co.

AINSWORTH, District Judge.

Plaintiff has sued Federal Barge Lines, Inc., owner of the Barge FBL 625, and Gulf-Canal Lines, Inc., bareboat charterer of the barge, for damages growing out of an injury he sustained while employed by Continental Grain Company as a grain handler in unloading the barge at a dock in the Port of New Orleans. Defendants have filed a third-party complaint against plaintiff's employer, Continental Grain Company, under the doctrine of Ryan Stevedor. Co. v. Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corp., 350 U.S. 124, 76 S.Ct. 232, 100 L.Ed. 133 (1956). Plaintiff has been paid compensation in full for his injury by his employer, Continental, under the provisions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (33 U.S.C.A. § 901 et seq.).

On May 27, 1960, plaintiff was working aboard the Barge FBL 625 unloading grain. He claims that while on board he suffered an injury to his right eye from a piece of flying metal thrown from the marine leg used in the unloading operation, which resulted in industrial blindness to the eye. He alleges that the marine leg was defective which made the barge unseaworthy; that the barge owner and charterer failed to provide him with a safe place to work.

The Barge FBL 625 is a "hopper-type" barge of steel-welded construction with steel-rolling covers, 195 feet in length and 35 feet in breadth. It was loaded with a cargo of corn, but was a general classification barge capable of carrying any type of solid cargo. Continental had shipped the corn from St. Paul, Minnesota, to New Orleans under a freight bill and bill of lading in which Continental was both shipper and consignee. Continental loaded and unloaded the cargo.

The evidence showed that the marine leg, which plaintiff alleges caused his injury, is a shore-based elevating conveyor, owned and operated by Continental, used in unloading grain. It is permanently attached to the dock. It is equipped with a conveyor belt on which buckets are attached. The buckets scoop up the grain and carry it from the hold of the vessel to the shore. The unloading operation is divided into four phases. The first is the lowering of the leg into the hold and resting it on top of the grain. The leg remains, however, attached to and based on shore. The only contact which the leg has with the vessel is that it rests on the grain cargo, has cables attached to the vessel for a period of time and during the sweeping-up operation rests on the bottom of the vessel. The raising and lowering of the leg is done with power furnished by a self-contained unit. Large scoops called "air buckets" are then removed from the leg. These "air buckets" are used to bring the grain from the ends of the barge to the centrally located marine leg. The buckets are operated by means of pulleys, one of which is fastened to the vessel and the other to the marine leg. The pulleys and the cables are part of the equipment of the leg. After the level of the grain is lowered the "air buckets," the pulleys and cables are removed and stored on the marine leg. The third phase of the unloading operation is performed with small bulldozers which do essentially the same task as the "air buckets," that is, bring the grain to the leg. The fourth and final phase is termed "sweeping up." The grain handlers sweep up the grain and shovel it into the marine leg. It was during this phase while plaintiff was shovelling corn into the marine leg that he claims he was injured.

It is settled law that a longshoreman injured while performing a "ship's service" can recover for unseaworthiness. Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946). A vessel is unseaworthy when it has a defect in its hull, gear, stowage, and appurtenant appliances and equipment. The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 23 S.Ct. 483, 47 L.Ed. 760 (1903); Mahnich v. Southern S.S. Co., 321 U.S. 96, 64 S.Ct. 455, 88 L.Ed. 561 (1944); Grillea v. United States, 2 Cir., 1956, 232 F.2d 919.

An owner of a vessel may be liable for an unseaworthy condition which has been caused by an independent contractor and the doctrine has been extended to include equipment brought aboard and used and controlled exclusively by stevedores in loading and unloading a vessel. Alaska Steamship Company v. Petterson, 347 U.S. 396, 74 S.Ct. 601, 98 L.Ed. 798 (1954); Rogers v. United States Lines, 347 U.S. 984, 74 S.Ct. 849, 98 L.Ed. 1120...