Ellis v. Travelers Ins. Co.

• Citation: 241 La. 433,129 So.2d 729
• Decision Date: 24 April 1961
• Docket Number: No. 45452,45452
• Parties: Herbert S. ELLIS v. TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY et al.
• Court: Supreme Court of Louisiana

Page 729

129 So.2d 729 241 La. 433 Herbert S. ELLIS
v.
TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY et al. No. 45452. Supreme Court of Louisiana. April 24, 1961.
Rehearing Denied May 29, 1961.

[241 La. 434] Zelden & Zelden, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellant.

[241 La. 435] John V. Baus of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, New Orleans, for defendants-appellants-respondents.

HAMLIN, Justice.

Acting under our supervisory jurisdiction (Article VII, Section 11, Louisiana Constitution of 1921, LSA) we granted certiorari from a judgment of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit (123 So.2d 780), which reversed a judgment of the trial court overruling defendants' exception to the jurisdiction of the court ratione materiae. This case was consolidated for argument with No. 45,455, Stepter v. T. Smith & Sons, Inc., 241 La. 465, 129 So.2d 740,--a like suit arising out of an accident similar to the one herein involved--in which certiorari was granted in order that we might review the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit (123 So.2d 788), affirming a judgment of the trial court which maintained the defendant's exception to the jurisdiction of the court ratione materiae.

Plaintiff Herbert S. Ellis, employed as a longshoreman for Standard Stevedoring Company, Inc., sustained injuries on January 31 or February 1, 1958, being struck by a load of cotton, while working on board the S.S. Steel Artisan in the No. 2 Hatch. The vessel was docked in the Mississippi River at the Poland Street Wharf in the City of New Orleans. Plaintiff's suit for total disability was brought against his employer[241 La. 436] and its insurer, the Travelers Insurance Company, under the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act.

Defendants urged an exception to the jurisdiction of the trial court ratione materiae, averring that the court was without jurisdiction for the reason that plaintiff's sole remedy was under the Federal Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Act, 33 U.S.C.A. § 901 et seq. They answered

Page 730

plaintiff's petition, denying many of its allegations and averring that plaintiff had been paid compensation under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act at the rate of $54 per week for a period of twenty weeks and six days, based upon temporary, total disability; defendants prayed that plaintiff's suit be dismissed at his cost.

The trial court, after overruling defendants' exception to the jurisdiction ratione materiae, rendered judgment for total disability in favor of plaintiff; the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court's judgment on the exception; and, this matter has been submitted for our review.

In Case No. 45,455, Stepter v. T. Smith & Sons, Inc., 241 La. 465, 129 So.2d 740, plaintiff William Stepter sustained injuries on March 27, 1957, while working as a longshoreman, unloading bulk iron by means of a scoop, abord (in the hold) the Vessel S. S. Orland (registered in Bergen, Norway, and engaged in interstate and/or foreign [241 La. 437] commerce) afloat on navigable waters, either the Mississippi River or the Industrial Canal. Stepter brought suit for total disability against his employer, T. Smith and Sons, Inc., under the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act.

In Stepter's case the trial court maintained an exception to its jurisdiction ratione materiae filed by the defendant, holding that the matter came within the Federal Maritime jurisdiction; the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the trial court; and, the matter has been submitted for our review. Although a separate decree will be rendered therein, the reasoning herein applies thereto.

Jurisdiction is the sole issue presented for our determination. Must longshoremen, injured aboard ocean-going vessels, afloat on navigable waters and engaged in interstate commerce, while working in the course of maritime employment, seek redress under the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (33 U.S.C.A. § 901 et seq.) or under the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act (LSA-R.S. 23:1021 et seq.)? Did the injuries suffered by plaintiffs occur in the so-called 'Twilight Zone,', thereby entitling them to select the jurisdiction of their choice?

[241 La. 438] In order to answer the questions which we have propounded to ourselves, we feel compelled to review the line of jurisprudence demarcating between Federal and State jurisdictions.

Going back to the year 1916, we find the parent case of Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 37 S.Ct. 524, 61 L.Ed. 1086, written by Mr. Justice McReynolds.

Christen Jensen, an employee of the Southern Pacific Company, ¹ just prior to his death was operating a small electric freight truck; his duties consisted in driving the truck into the steamship El Oriente, where it was loaded with cargo, then driving the truck out of the vessel upon a gangway connecting the vessel with Pier 49, North River, New York City, and thence upon the pier, where lumber was unloaded from the truck. While Jensen was backing his truck into a hatchway of the steamship, he failed to lower his head, and his head struck the ship at the top line, throwing his head forward and causing his chin to hit the lumber in front of him. His neck was broken, and he met his death.

The Workmen's Compensation Commission of New York, acting under State statute, awarded the wife of the deceased and [241 La. 439] his children compensation. Southern Pacific Company objected to the award upon

Page 731

the grounds that the State act did not apply because the workman was engaged in interstate commerce; it argued that the injury was one with respect to which Congress may establish and had established a rule of liability.

In holding that the matter was without State jurisdiction, the United States Supreme Court stated that by Section 9 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, the district courts of the United States were given exclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common-law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it. It held (244 U.S. 205, 37 S.Ct. 528):

'The work of a stevedore, in which the deceased was engaging, is maritime in its nature; his employment was a maritime contract; the injuries which he received were likewise maritime; and the rights and liabilities of the parties in connection therewith were matters clearly within the admiralty jurisdiction. * * *

'If New York can subject foreign ships coming into her ports to such obligations as those imposed by her Compensation Statute, other states may do likewise. The necessary consequence would be destruction of the very uniformity[241 La. 440] in respect to maritime matters which the Constitution was designed to establish; and freedom of navigation between the states and with foreign countries would be seriously hampered and impeded. * * * The legislature exceeded its authority in attempting to extend the statute under consideration to conditions like those here disclosed. So applied, it conflicts with the Constitution and to that extent is invalid.

'Exclusive jurisdiction of all civil cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction is vested in the Federal district courts, 'saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to give it.' The remedy which the Compensation Statute attempts to give is of a character wholly unknown to the common law, incapable of enforcement by the ordinary processes of any court, and is not saved to suitors from the grant of exclusive jurisdiction. * * * And finally, this remedy is not consistent with the policy of Congress to encourage investments in ships, manifested in the Acts of 1851 * * * which declare a limitation upon the liability of their owners. * * *' See, Peters v. Veasey, 251 U.S. 121, 40 S.Ct. 65, 64 L.Ed. 180. Cf. Chelentis v. Luckenbach Steamship Co., Inc., 247 U.S. 372, 38 S.Ct. 501, 62 L.Ed. 1171.

[241 La. 441] Congress amended the Judicial Code in 1917, in an endeavor to afford maritime workers redress under State Compensation Laws in case of injuries.

In 1920, in the case of Knickerbocker Ice Company v. Stewart, 253 U.S. 149, 40 S.Ct. 438, 64 L.Ed. 834, the Supreme Court of the United States (Mr. Justice McReynolds, the organ of the Court) held the amendment unconstitutional as applied to the deceased. Therein, William M. Stewart, while employed by Knickerbocker Ice Company as a bargeman and doing work of a maritime nature, fell into the Hudson River and drowned August 3, 1918; thereafter, his widow was allowed compensation under the New York Compensation Law. The United States Supreme Court found that the Court of Appeals of New York (226 N.Y. 302, 123 N.E. 382) was in error in approving the award under the Act of Congress of 1917. ²

Page 732

The following syllabus correctly recites the holding of the case:

[241 La. 442] 'Congress exceeded its constitutional power to legislate concerning rights and liabilities within the maritime jurisdiction, and remedies for their enforcement, by attempting, as it did in the Act of October 6, 1917, to permit the application of Workmen's Compensation Laws of the several states to injuries within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, thus virtually destroying the harmony and uniformity which the Constitution not only contemplated, but actually established.'

In 1922, in the cases of Grant Smith-Porter Ship Company v. Rohde, 257 U.S. 469, 42 S.Ct. 157, 66 L.Ed. 321, and State Industrial Commission of State of New York v. Nordenholt Corporation, 259 U.S. 263...