Giddens v. Isbrandtsen Co.

• Decision Date: 03 January 1966
• Docket Number: No. 9980.,9980.
• Parties: William Alfred GIDDENS, Appellant, v. ISBRANDTSEN CO., Inc., Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

355 F.2d 125 (1966)

William Alfred GIDDENS, Appellant, v. ISBRANDTSEN CO., Inc., Appellee.

No. 9980.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued November 3, 1965.

Decided January 3, 1966.

Ralph Rabinowitz, Norfolk, Va. (Sidney H. Kelsey, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellant.

John W. Winston, Norfolk, Va. (Seawell, McCoy, Winston & Dalton, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellee.

Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, BRYAN, Circuit Judge, and MICHIE, District Judge.

ALBERT V. BRYAN, Circuit Judge:

Laches as a bar to recovery of damages for a personal injury resulting from a maritime tort occurring on Virginia waters should be determined largely by reference to the Virginia 2-year statute of limitations, the District Court has held. It dismissed, as stale, the action at law brought by William Alfred Giddens against Isbrandtsen Co., Inc. for injuries he suffered, not quite 3 years before, while working as a longshoreman aboard the company's SS Flying Clipper in Hampton Roads. As we think the State law should not be given such significance, we reverse.

The alleged injury was sustained on May 28, 1958 but the action was not filed until May 25, 1961. The shipowner's first defense was laches, depending chiefly upon the Virginia limitation on personal injury suits. Va.Code, 1950, § 8-24. As the more pertinent analogy, the claimant urged the 3-year indulgence of the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. 688, 45 U.S.C. 56. See Cox v. Roth, 348 U.S. 207, 210, 75 S.Ct. 242, 99 L.Ed. 260 (1955). The District Judge held that since the suit was filed more than two years after the accident, there was a presumption that the delay was inexcusable and the shipowner prejudiced. He thought the presumption had not been rebutted.

Giddens' claim was this. The Flying Clipper was loading tobacco by means of cargo runners controlled by the ship's winches. As two hogsheads were lowered into his hatch and he put his hand on the top of the "hogs" to "catch it and start to work on it", the control winch suddenly "jumped up" the load before it was "unhooked". The movement caught Giddens' hand between the load and the hatch coaming. Laying the fault to the defectiveness of the winch, he based his action for damages on the shipowner's negligence and the Flying Clipper's unseaworthiness.

In the enforcement of a maritime claim admiralty prefers the equity rule of laches as opposed to any rigid limitation. The Key City, 14 Wallace (81 U.S.) 653, 660, 20 L.Ed. 896 (1871). This is the law of the sea, governing irrespective of the form or forum of the suit. Larios v. Victory Carriers, Inc., 316 F.2d 63, 65 (2 Cir.1963); see Czaplicki v. The Hoegh Silvercloud, 351 U.S. 525, 531, 76 S.Ct. 946, 100 L.Ed. 1387 (1956); Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 358 U.S. 625, 79 S.Ct. 406, 3 L.Ed.2d 550 (1959). Hence, because this action is at law, on diversity jurisdiction, laches is not displaced by any limitation statute.

Laches is sustainable only on proof of both of two elements: "(1) lack of diligence by the party against whom the defense is asserted, and (2) prejudice to the party asserting the defense". Costello v. United States, 365 U.S. 265, 282, 81 S.Ct. 534, 543, 5 L.Ed.2d 551 (1961). The latter contemplates the dispersal and inaccessibility of witnesses, the dimming of recollections and other disadvantages incident to the lapse of time. Thus the presence of laches is ascertained by a balancing of the claimant's delay with the proferred excuse, if any, against the defendant's consequent detriment. The determination demands a weighing of equities. These in turn depend upon an assay of the circumstances.

Though laches is not identifiable with any particular statute, State or Federal, it may be analogized with a statute's period of limitation. Yet it may be greater in time or even less. 3 Benedict, Admiralty, 6th ed., § 463 at 294. The limitation laws, to the extent they are relevant, weigh on the side of prejudice and against dilatoriness with the excuse, if any, as a counterbalance.

The Virginia statute, we think, is not so closely related to the question as to be a significant factor. Giddens does not sue on a cause of action afforded by Virginia common law or statute. His suit is pitched exclusively on maritime law, as granting him recourse against the shipowner. While a longshoreman is not a crewman in all considerations, he is afforded comparable protection when performing the traditional duties of the crewman. Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406, 409, 74 S.Ct. 202, 98 L.Ed. 143 (1953); Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 90, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946). We do not mean to say that "state statutes of limitations are immaterial in determining whether laches is a bar", Czaplicki v. The Hoegh Silvercloud, supra, 351 U.S. 525, 533, 76 S.Ct. 946, 951 (1956); we simply say that Virginia's law should not have the decisive influence accorded it by the District Court.

On the other hand, the limitation in the Jones Act — 3 years — is a more logical and acceptable polestar. It relates to personal injuries on navigable waters. Presumably it was adopted with seamen's circumstances in mind. On the other hand, the State statute comprehends many other and more varied concerns, landside rather than offshore. Also, the Jones Act is of national application, thus providing a uniform criterion wherever in the United States maritime responsibilities are to be enforced. Force is lent to this argument by recalling that the 3 years fixed in the Federal statute represents the consensus of Congress, the final authority on remedies in admiralty, as to what is a fair opportunity for suit.

The Jones Act as furnishing a parallel to help courts in deciding an issue of laches in a longshoreman's suit against a shipowner has been recognized and adopted by the Fifth Circuit. Flowers v. Savannah Machine & Foundry Co., 310 F.2d 135, 137 (5 Cir.1962). Admittedly, other courts have preferred State limitation laws as exampling standards of guidance. 3 Benedict, Admiralty, 6th ed., § 463 at 293; Oroz v. American President Lines, Ltd., 259 F.2d 636, 639 (2 Cir. 1958), cert. den., 359 U.S. 908, 79 S.Ct. 584, 3 L.Ed.2d 572; Dawson v. Fernley & Eger, 196 F.Supp. 816, 821 (E.D.Va. 1961).

While imperceptive adherence to any statute is to be discountenanced, Gardner v. Panama R. R., 342 U.S. 29, 30-31, 72 S.Ct. 12, 96 L.Ed. 31 (1951), we believe for the reasons just enumerated that when advertence to a statute is desirable, the Jones Act's time prescription is the more appropriate analogue. But, we repeat, State limitation periods, whether greater or less, may be considered in determining what is prejudicial delay.

The conclusions we have stated are confined to personal injury actions. We do not now intend to rule upon the effect, if any, to be given State limitations in other spheres of maritime litigation, such as suits involving contracts, the priority of liens and other issues of admiralty concern. Cf. 3 Benedict, Admiralty, 6th ed., § 466 at 301.

Where limitation statutes have been accepted as helpful in admiralty...