Dobbins v. Crain Bros., Inc., s. 77-1213

• Decision Date: 23 November 1977
• Docket Number: Nos. 77-1213,s. 77-1213
• Citation: 567 F.2d 559
• Parties: Chester DOBBINS, Plaintiff-Appellant at 77-1213, v. CRAIN BROTHERS, INC., a corporation, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff- Appellant at 77-1214, v. The PITTSBURGH AND LAKE ERIE RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Third-Party Defendant and Appellant at 77-1215. to 77-1215.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 559

567 F.2d 559

Chester DOBBINS, Plaintiff-Appellant at 77-1213, v. CRAIN BROTHERS, INC., a corporation, Defendant and Third-Party Plaintiff- Appellant at 77-1214, v. The PITTSBURGH AND LAKE ERIE RAILROAD COMPANY, a

corporation, Third-Party Defendant and Appellant at 77-1215.

Nos. 77-1213 to 77-1215.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Argued Oct. 18, 1977.

Decided Nov. 23, 1977.

Paul L. Hammer, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff-appellant Dobbins.

John R. McGinley, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa., for Crain Brothers, Inc.

G. Edward Yurcon, Pittsburgh, Pa., for Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Co.

Before ADAMS and GARTH, Circuit Judges, and LAYTON, ^* District Judge.

OPINION OF THE COURT

GARTH, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arises from an accident at the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company's (PLE) Colona Coal Dock on the Ohio River, in which the plaintiff Chester Dobbins, a member of the railroad's river crew, was injured while working on a barge owned by Crain Brothers, Inc. (Crain). After a jury trial, the district court entered a judgment against Crain in favor of Dobbins, which we affirm. However, the district court then held that liability must be apportioned between the defendant Crain and the third-party defendant PLE, and thus entered a judgment in Crain's favor against PLE for part of Crain's liability to Dobbins. It is only this portion of the district court's judgment which we are obliged to reverse.

This accident occurred before the 1972 amendments to the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901-950, which became effective on December 26, 1972, and which substantially changed the law involved in this case. See Hurst v. Triad Shipping Co., 554 F.2d 1237 (3d Cir. 1977). Hence there is little probability that in the future courts will be required to confront the legal problems presented by this case. Nevertheless, since we believe that the district court's allocation of liability does not comport with the Sieracki ¹-Halcyon ²-Ryan ³ trilogy we reverse so much of the district court's judgment as required contribution between PLE and Crain. For the reasons following, we hold that the district court erred in failing to present to the jury the question of whether Crain was entitled to indemnity from PLE based on a breach by PLE of its warranty of workmanlike performance.

I.

Crain, the vessel owner in this case, hauls coal on riverbarges for the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. Crain delivers the coal in barges to PLE at its Colona Coal Dock. PLE then tranships the coal from the barges to its railroad cars. On February 5, 1972, in the afternoon, Crain towed its Barge No. 681, loaded with coal, to the Colona facility to be unloaded. Dobbins, a longtime employee of PLE, reported to work just before midnight. Dobbins was a full time member of PLE's river crew, holding the position of "car loader no. 2", a utility man who performed various tasks as needed.

About one a.m. on February 6 it began to snow, and the snow continued throughout the night. Shortly before eight a.m., Dobbins was ordered by his supervisor to "round" Barge 681 and another barge. Dobbins loosened the mooring on the downriver inboard corner of the barges and removed the upriver mooring so that the river current would pivot the barges 180 degrees. After the current had brought the barges around, Dobbins stepped onto Barge 681 in order to moor the upriver corner. He fell on ice and snow which had accumulated on the deck of the barge, and was injured. See the district court's opinion, 432 F.Supp. 1060 (W.D.Pa.1976).

II.

Dobbins thereafter collected $560 in Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' compensation from PLE. He then filed suit against PLE in the Western District of Pennsylvania (at Civil Action No. 74-50), asserting a claim under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688 (1970). Dobbins and PLE settled for $85,000. The settlement was approved by the district court, and Dobbins subsequently executed a release in PLE's favor. Crain was not a party to the suit at No. 74-50, nor was it a party to the settlement or release.

Dobbins then filed the instant action (at Civil Action No. 75-99) against Crain, asserting claims of unseaworthiness and under the Jones Act. The district court dismissed the Jones Act claim during trial on the ground that Crain was not Dobbins' employer. This ruling has not been appealed. After the evidence had been presented, the case was submitted to the jury on Special Interrogatories. The jury found that:

1) the barge was unseaworthy

2) PLE was not the owner pro hac vice of the barge

3) Dobbins was 25% At fault

4) Dobbins suffered total damages in the amount of $320,000.

5) As between Crain and PLE, PLE was 75% At fault and Crain was 25% Fault.

The district court ruled that Dobbins' recovery should be reduced by 25% Due to his contributory negligence, rejecting the plaintiff's contention that the defense of contributory negligence should be unavailable because certain safety regulations had been violated. It further ruled that Crain was entitled to 75% Contribution from PLE, and that the joint tortfeasor release executed by Dobbins in No. 74-50 should be given the effect of reducing Dobbins' recovery by $85,000. Dobbins v. Crain Brothers, 432 F.Supp. 1060 (W.D.Pa.1976). Its amended judgment order gave Dobbins a judgment against Crain alone for $155,000 ($320,000 $80,000 (representing the 25% Contributory negligence) $85,000 (the consideration for the release)). It gave Crain a judgment over against PLE for $95,000 (75% Of $240,000, minus the $85,000 credit for the payment made pursuant to the release). Crain was left with a net liability of $60,000 (25% Of $240,000). All the parties have appealed.

III.

In our opinion, the central question in this appeal concerns the allocation of liability between Crain and PLE. The district court, after asking the jury to assess damages suffered by Dobbins, instructed the jury to apportion fault as between Crain and PLE. Based on the jury's 75% 25% Allocation of fault, the court held that damages should be apportioned under a joint tortfeasor theory, and that Crain was therefore entitled to recover from PLE 75% Of the damages assessed against it (minus the amount paid by PLE for the release). Essentially, the district court allowed contribution between a vessel owner sued by a longshoreman ⁴ and a stevedore-employer. On appeal, Crain urges that this disposition was incorrect and that the applicable caselaw requires that it (Crain) be completely indemnified by PLE for any amount it is required to pay to Dobbins. We agree that contribution was improperly ordered in this case; however, the jury must decide whether Crain is entitled to indemnity.

A.

Under § 5 of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act,33 U.S.C. § 905 (1970) (LHWCA) ⁵, the stevedore-employer of an injured longshoreman or harbor worker is immune from all tort liability. The employee's exclusive remedy against his employer is compensation under the Act. ⁶ However, the longshoreman, if injured on a vessel or by a vessel's equipment, has a cause of action against the vessel owner based on the vessel's unseaworthiness. Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946). Shipowners, sued under Sieracki, prior to the 1972 Amendments as a matter of course impleaded the stevedore-employers. ⁷ It is out of such a situation that the present problem arose.

In Halcyon Lines v. Haenn Ship Ceiling and Refitting Corp., 342 U.S. 282, 72 S.Ct. 277, 96 L.Ed. 318 (1952), the Supreme Court held, in a situation where the jury found the impleaded stevedore-employer to be 75% Responsible for the plaintiff's injuries and the defendant shipowner 25% Responsible, that there could be no contribution between the shipowner and the stevedore. The Court reasoned that, in a field where Congress had acted by substantial legislation, any right of contribution should be created by Congress, not the Court. The Halcyon rule has been reaffirmed in Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406, 412, 74 S.Ct. 202, 98 L.Ed. 143 (1953), Federal Marine Terminals, Inc. v. Burnside Shipping Co., Ltd., 394 U.S. 404, 417, 89 S.Ct. 1144, 22 L.Ed.2d 371 (1969), and Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Erie Lackawanna R. Co., 406 U.S. 340, 92 S.Ct. 1550, 32 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972) (per curiam). Courts have consistently applied this rule whenever an attempt has been made to claim contribution, based on joint tort liability of the stevedore-employer and the vessel owner, in cases arising out of longshoremen's injuries. 1A Benedict on Admiralty § 119 (7th ed. rev., Bender 1977) (hereinafter cited as Benedict). We can only conclude, therefore, that Halcyon remains the law, and that since a stevedore-employer is immune from tort liability to the longshoreman under § 5 of the LHWCA (as distinct from liability for statutory compensation), the employer cannot be a joint tortfeasor with a vessel owner sued for unseaworthiness. Thus the vessel owner can have no claim for contribution from the stevedore-employer as a joint tortfeasor. See Federal Marine Terminals, Inc. v. Burnside Shipping Co., Ltd., supra, 394 U.S., at 421 n. 25, 89 S.Ct. 1144. See also Hagans v. Farrell Lines, 237 F.2d 477 (3d Cir. 1956).

Cooper Stevedoring Co. v. Fritz Kopke, Inc., 417 U.S. 106, 94 S.Ct. 2174, 40 L.Ed.2d 694 (1974), and Griffith v. Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corp., supra, which allowed contribution between the stevedore-employer and the vessel owner, are clearly distinguishable from the case sub judice. In Cooper and Griffith the stevedores were also the owners pro hac vice of the vessels on which the plaintiffs were injured. They were therefore directly liable to the longshoremen under Reed v. The Yaka, supra. ⁸ Thus the § 5 immunity was inapplicable, and the stevedore-employers could be liable, together with the actual shipowners, for maritime torts. Since there could be joint tortfeasor liability, there could also be...