Gautreaux v. Scurlock Marine, Inc.

Citation84 F.3d 776
Decision Date06 June 1996
Docket Number95-30272,Nos. 95-30250,s. 95-30250
PartiesCharles D. GAUTREAUX, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SCURLOCK MARINE, INC., Defendant-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Leonard Arthur Radlauer, New Orleans, LA, for plaintiff-appellee.

Allen F. Campbell, Gene Ray Smith, Bertrand M. Cass, Jr., Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, New Orleans, LA, for defendant-appellant.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Before HIGGINBOTHAM and DUHE, Circuit Judges, and SCHWARZER, 1 District Judge.

DUHE, Circuit Judge:

Charles Gautreaux brought this Jones Act and general maritime law action against his employer, Scurlock Marine, Inc. ("Scurlock"), seeking damages for work-related injuries. The district court entered judgment on a jury verdict in Gautreaux's favor and denied Scurlock's motion for judgment as a matter of law, new trial, or to alter, amend or remit the judgment. Scurlock appeals, complaining of the jury instructions, denial of its motion for judgment as a matter of law, refusal to grant a new trial or to alter, amend or remit the judgment, and denial of limitation of liability. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Archie Scurlock, as President and owner of Scurlock, purchased the BROOKE LYNN in May 1993, and retained as her permanent captain Lance Orgeron. In October 1993, Charles Gautreaux applied for a position with Scurlock. Gautreaux had worked as a tanker man since the early 1980's and had recently earned a U.S. Coast Guard master's license. Scurlock hired Gautreaux as the BROOKE LYNN's relief captain.

The BROOKE LYNN is a standard inland pushboat, equipped with two towing winches on her bow, which are used to secure lines joining the BROOKE LYNN to the barges in her tow. The starboard side winch is hydraulic, and the port side winch is electric. Upon being hired, Gautreaux was taken to the BROOKE LYNN and instructed on her operation by Archie Scurlock. Orgeron took Gautreaux on a tour of the vessel, showing him the layout of the vessel and familiarizing him with her equipment. Orgeron showed Gautreaux the manual crank handle that accompanied the electric winch and told him that it was to be used to override the electric switches on the winch if they failed. Orgeron explained that, if the winch became "bound up" and would not engage by use of the electric ignition switch, the manual crank should be attached to the winch motor and turned a few times to "unbind" the winch, and then the electric ignition switch should be used to try to engage the winch. Neither Archie Scurlock nor Orgeron told Gautreaux that while using the manual crank handle he should not leave the handle on the winch motor when attempting to engage the winch by pressing the electric ignition switch.

About four months after he was hired, Gautreaux, serving as captain of the BROOKE LYNN, relieved the tanker man on duty and began off loading of the barge in tow. As the barge discharged its cargo, it began to rise in the water, eventually causing the towing wires connecting it to the BROOKE LYNN to become taut. Noticing this, Gautreaux attempted to relieve the tension in the wires by unwinding them from the winches. He released the starboard wire first, which caused that side of the BROOKE LYNN to drop and the port side towing wire to become even tighter. Gautreaux then attempted to release the port side wire, but the electric winch would not work. He attached the manual crank handle to the winch motor, and began turning the handle while simultaneously pressing the electric ignition switch. When the motor started, the manual crank handle flew off and struck Gautreaux on the right side of his face, crushing his right eye and inflicting other severe fractures and lacerations.

Gautreaux sued Scurlock, alleging that his injuries were caused by its negligence and the unseaworthiness of the BROOKE LYNN. Gautreaux's primary complaint was that Scurlock failed to properly train him in the use and operation of the electric towing winch and its manual crank handle, thereby not providing him a safe place to work. Scurlock answered and sought exoneration from or limitation of its liability. After a two-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Gautreaux on his Jones Act negligence claim, but found the BROOKE LYNN seaworthy. The jury apportioned fault 95% to Scurlock and 5% to Gautreaux and awarded a total of $854,000 in damages. 2

The district court entered judgment for Gautreaux for $811,300. By separate order, the district court denied Scurlock's petition for limitation of liability. Scurlock moved in the alternative for judgment as a matter of law, for new trial, or to alter, amend or remit the judgment. The district court denied these motions, conditioning denial of the motion for new trial on the amount of lost future wages on Gautreaux's acceptance of a remittitur. 3 Gautreaux accepted the remittitur, and the district court entered an amended judgment for $736,925 for Gautreaux. 4

On appeal, Scurlock argues that the district court committed the following errors: (1) improperly charging the jury on the applicable law, (2) refusing to enter judgment as a matter of law on the issues of entitlement to lost future wages and liability, (3) failing to recognize that the awards for lost future wages and pain and suffering were excessive and warranted a new trial, and (4) denying its petition for limitation of liability.

II. DISCUSSION
A. Jury instructions

The district court has broad discretion in formulating the jury charge, and so we review jury instructions with deference. Stine v. Marathon Oil Co., 976 F.2d 254, 259 (5th Cir.1992); Bradshaw v. Freightliner Corp., 937 F.2d 197, 200 (5th Cir.1991); Treadaway v. Societe Anonyme Louis-Dreyfus, 894 F.2d 161, 167 (5th Cir.1990). Accordingly, a jury charge is to be considered as a whole, and so long as the jury is not misled, prejudiced, or confused, and the charge is comprehensive and fundamentally accurate, it will be deemed adequate. Davis v. Avondale Indus., Inc., 975 F.2d 169, 174-75 (5th Cir.1992); Bradshaw, 937 F.2d at 200. We reverse for error in charging the jury only when the charge given, as a whole, leaves us with substantial and ineradicable doubt whether the jury has been properly guided in its deliberations. Mooney v. Aramco Servs. Co., 54 F.3d 1207, 1216 (5th Cir.1995) (quoting FDIC v. Mijalis, 15 F.3d 1314, 1318 (5th Cir.1994)); Hall v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 937 F.2d 210, 214 (5th Cir.1991) (quoting Treadaway, 894 F.2d at 167-68).

Scurlock contends the district court erred by failing to instruct the jury that a Jones Act employer is entitled to rely on the experience, training, license, or education of individual seamen-employees in determining whether or to what extent to train them. Further, Scurlock argues the district court's refusal to instruct the jury that it could consider these same qualities of a seaman-employee when determining his contributory negligence was also error.

As a threshold matter, the district court is not required to give a requested jury instruction that is not a correct statement of the law. Mooney, 54 F.3d at 1216; Treadaway, 894 F.2d at 167. If the proposed instruction does accurately state the law, the district court still has not committed reversible error by refusing to give it, provided the substance of the requested instruction is conveyed in the charge. Dawsey v. Olin Corp., 782 F.2d 1254 (5th Cir.1986). See also Bank One, Texas, N.A. v. Taylor, 970 F.2d 16, 30 (5th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 906, 113 S.Ct. 2331, 124 L.Ed.2d 243 (1993).

The district court charged:

Now in considering the experience of the plaintiff, you may find the defendant negligent if you find from a preponderance of the evidence that defendant assigned plaintiff to perform a task which he was not adequately trained to perform. The defendant was obliged to train all of its employees, including the captain of the vessel, in the proper and safe use of the vessel's equipment. However, defendant was under no obligation to warn the plaintiff of conditions of which he was aware.

This instruction clearly invited the jury to assess the impact of Gautreaux's training and experience on Scurlock's duty to train him in the operation of the winch. 5 The district court need not adopt verbatim the wording of an instruction suggested by a party. See, e.g., Jackson v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 788 F.2d 1070, 1075 (5th Cir.1986). Instead, its task merely is to fully and correctly charge the jury on the applicable law. Bender v. Brumley, 1 F.3d 271, 276 (5th Cir.1993) (quoting 9 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2556 (1917)). On this record, we find no reversible error in the district court's refusal to give Scurlock's proposed instructions.

As to the instructions on Gautreaux's contributory negligence, the district court was not as precise, but was equally as effective. The district court instructed:

If a seaman is provided with a safe way to work and he chooses to do something in a way that he knows or should know is unsafe and dangerous, his employer is not responsible for the results of a choice made knowingly by the seaman.

... [I]f you find that the plaintiff chose to use an unsafe method that he knew or should have known was unsafe, or in violation of instructions, you may find he was wholly or partly responsible for what happened.

Again, it is not error for the district court to refuse to give a requested instruction that accurately states applicable law if the substance of that instruction is embraced in the charge. We conclude that, albeit without the exactitude Scurlock sought, this instruction sufficiently conveyed that Gautreaux's training, knowledge, and experience were factors the jurors could consider in determining whether his own conduct was negligent and contributed to his injuries.

Finally, Scurlock...

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