Friend v. Tropis Company
| Citation | 382 F.2d 633 |
| Decision Date | 11 September 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 11230.,11230. |
| Parties | James H. FRIEND, Silas Trowell and Floyd Long, Appellants, v. TROPIS COMPANY, Ltd., Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
Sidney H. Kelsey, Norfolk, Va. (Kelsey & Rabinowitz, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellants.
John W. Winston, Norfolk, Va. (Seawell, McCoy, Winston & Dalton, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellee.
Before SOBELOFF, BOREMAN and BRYAN, Circuit Judges.
For personal injuries suffered by them while working in the hold of the Greek freighter, SS AVRA, discharging cargo at Norfolk, Virginia, longshoremen Trowell, Friend and Long brought this action at law for damages against her owner, Tropis Company, Ltd. On both assertions of liability — negligence and unseaworthiness of the vessel — the jury found for the defendant. From the judgment of the District Court entered on this verdict, the plaintiffs appeal: (1) for the refusal of the Court to direct a finding of liability for unseaworthiness, and (2) for misdirection upon this alleged liability. The motion was correctly overruled, and we conclude, too, there was no reversible error in the instruction.
The injuries, concededly, resulted from electric shocks suffered while these men were trimming a cargo of bulk potash for unloading. "Grabs" — clam shell buckets on a hoist — were let down into the hold through the hatchway for removal of the lading. As they "grabbed" it, the longshoremen would fill the hole dug by the grabs so that they could pick up a full load on return. The potash ran like sand, and the workers slid with it towards the excavation. To stay their slide they would reach for a stanchion or beam. On the occasion in suit, just as they were about to touch a metal piece of this kind, the longshoremen felt an electric shock and were hurt.
As electricity indubitably was the cause of their injuries, the next question was its source. Plaintiffs blamed it on defective wiring. In denial, the defendant ascribed it to static electricity generated on the bodies and clothes of the claimants by friction with the potash. That such activity could create a charge was demonstrated in producing an electric arc by holding a metal shovel scoop a fraction of an inch from the stanchion or beam just after passing it through the potash. No further arcing could be obtained until the shovel again had been put in abrasive contact with the potash and held near the metal strut. A small shock was felt when one walking over the cargo touched the steel ladder leading to the deck above. Expert testimony declared this phenomenon accountable for the electricity in the hold. At the same time, qualified witnesses gave evidence to the safety and good order of the electric system aboard ship.
The accident occurred in Number 2 hold about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of November 1, 1963. Having worked the hold continuously since 8 o'clock that morning without mishap, plaintiffs turned to again at 1 p. m. after a lunch break. An hour later they sustained the shocks. Work in that hold was immediately suspended, with off-loading of similar cargo shifted to another hold without event or mishap. In the morning the temperature at 8 o'clock had been 55 degrees and the relative humidity 57 percent. From then on the temperature increased and the humidity declined until 2 p. m. the Weather Bureau reading showed 71 degrees and 36 percent.
It was authentically testified that relative humidity within the range of 30 to 40 percent will foster the accumulation of electric charges. Damp air, it is said, harmlessly conducts the charge off to ground it as it is formed; dry air is an insulator, favoring the accretion of substantial charges. No such static electricity, according to the testimony, had ever been encountered in a ship's hold at or near Norfolk in the memory of watermen witnesses, a retrospect of some 25 years. Furthermore, we are told without contradiction that no practical means to prevent the creation of static in the circumstances is known.
Notwithstanding, the plaintiffs urge, electricity free in the hold rendered the ship unseaworthy, denying the longshoremen a safe place to work as assured by the doctrine of seaworthiness. Their argument is that the cause of the presence of this injurious element is immaterial — that the defendant is responsible for the electricity in the hold whether it escaped through defective wiring or was generated from the men's friction with the cargo. On this reasoning the plaintiffs moved for a peremptory instruction to the jury to find unseaworthiness. Refusing the requested direction, the Court charged that the defendant was liable if the electricity came from defective wiring, but that there was no responsibility "if...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Earles v. Union Barge Line Corporation, 72-1313
...36 346 F.2d 481, 483 (2d Cir. 1965). 37 See Rivera v. Rederi A/B Nordstjernan, 456 F.2d 970 (1st Cir. 1972). See also Friend v. Tropis Co., 382 F.2d 633 (4th Cir. 1967), cert. denied 390 U.S. 906, 88 S.Ct. 820, 19 L.Ed.2d 872 (1968) (implies that had static electricity in the hold emanated ......
-
Kukuruza v. General Elec. Co., 74--1247
...have been caused by mere static electricity generated on a cold, dry December afternoon in New England, cf. Friend v. Tropis Co., Ltd., 382 F.2d 633 (4th Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 906, 88 S.Ct. 820, 19 L.Ed.2d 872 (1968), a Nass issue might have been more sharply raised. However, o......
-
Hubbard v. Faros Fisheries, Inc.
...Little v. Green, 428 F.2d 1061 (5th Cir. 1970); Haskell v. Boat Clinton-Serafina, Inc., 412 F.2d 896 (1st Cir. 1969); Friend v. Tropis Co., 382 F.2d 633 (4th Cir. 1967); Benton v. United Towing Co., 224 F.2d 558 (9th Cir. 1955). In none of the cases did the appellate court award judgment n.......
-
Smith v. American Mail Line, Ltd., 73-2943
...(although, perhaps, speaking more euphemistically), due to the introduction of a 'noxious agent from without.' See Friend v. Tropis Company, 382 F.2d 633 (4th Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 906, 88 S.Ct. 820, 19 L.Ed.2d 872 Morales makes clear that although cargo itself does not come wi......