Grayson v. US

• Decision Date: 27 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-10041-Civ.,89-10041-Civ.
• Citation: 748 F. Supp. 854
• Parties: Ivan E. GRAYSON, as personal representative of the Estate of Hae Yon Sin Grayson (wife), Ivan E. Grayson, as personal representative of the Estate of Akilah Kyong Hae Grayson (daughter), Ivan E. Grayson, as personal representative of the Estate of Marcia Ji Hae Grayson (daughter), and Ivan E. Grayson, individually, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

748 F. Supp. 854

Ivan E. GRAYSON, as personal representative of the Estate of Hae Yon Sin Grayson (wife), Ivan E. Grayson, as personal representative of the Estate of Akilah Kyong Hae Grayson (daughter), Ivan E. Grayson, as personal representative of the Estate of Marcia Ji Hae Grayson (daughter), and Ivan E. Grayson, individually, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant.

No. 89-10041-Civ.

United States District Court, S.D. Florida.

September 27, 1990.

Ira Leesfield, Miami, Fla., for plaintiff.

Allan Dagen, Asst. U.S. Atty., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION, FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW¹

JAMES LAWRENCE KING, Chief Judge.

Hae Yon Sin Grayson and her two small daughters perished in the early morning hours of August 29, 1987, when their car sank in the deep waters surrounding Navy Pier D-3, in Key West, Florida. Ivan Grayson, tormented by the mind numbing horror of the tragedy that wiped his family from the face of the earth, desperately needs to know why this happened.

Responsibility for the Tragedy

Hae Grayson, the 32-year-old wife of serviceman Ivan Grayson, had gone fishing with her two daughters on Pier D-3 at Trumbo Point Naval Base in Key West, Florida, in the recreational area provided by the Navy for the use of Navy personnel and their dependents. She had gone with other Navy dependents, wives and children, on prior evening fishing excursions to the same pier. The Navy welcomed its 6,500 service personnel and dependents to use the recreational facilities of Pier D-3, and her presence upon the pier on the evening of August 29, 1987, was with the knowledge and consent of the United States Navy and its employees. (stipulated). It was not unusual or uncommon for the substantial contingent of Navy personnel and their dependents to use the pier for recreational fishing just as Mrs. Grayson was using the facility on the evening in question. The base commander testified he and his son used the pier for recreational fishing, and that he was aware that base personnel and their families fished, on a regular basis, from the pier.

For Navy dependents intending to use the pier, it was customary for them to enter through the main gate, drive across the base, and out onto the pier where they would park their cars as Mrs. Grayson did this evening.

The pier was built by the P & O Steamship Company in approximately 1902. The portion of the pier on which persons could drive was approximately 900 feet in length and 60 feet in width. The pier was considerably more narrow near the gate. On this particular evening, the area surrounding the gate to Pier D-3 was not illuminated. (stipulated). The roadway on the northeast side of the pier ended at a perpendicular angle to the exit gate through which Mrs. Grayson would have had to pass when leaving the pier. (stipulated). The roadway near the exit gate did not have any markings, signs or other provisions to alert civilian traffic of the end of the roadway. (stipulated).

Although Pier D-3 was used as a recreational facility for military personnel and their families, it was not open to the general civilian (non-military) population of Key West.

Immediately following the drowning deaths of the Grayson family, the commanding officer of the base, Captain William Denning, pursuant to Judge Advocate General (JAG) Manual requirements, ordered Lt. Commander Ciarula to investigate the tragedy and determine the fault, neglect or responsibility therefore.

Lt. Commander Ciarula conducted a full investigation into the drowning deaths of the Grayson family. He found the contributing causes of the accident to be: (1) Mrs. Grayson's vision problem; (2) Mrs. Grayson "was probably very fatigued"; (3) Mrs. Grayson's limited driving experience; (4) "The way the road narrows to the gate with the gate on the far right side but no lane markers or guard rails"; (5) "The only light ... does not light up the gate, fence or where the pier narrows."

Ciarula noted, "Because the gate area and the end of the pier was not well lighted or marked, she did not realize that she was heading for the edge of the pier."

Commanding Officer Denning disapproved of the underlined portion of Ciarula's opinion (above). Captain Denning also disapproved of the finding that Mrs. Grayson's peripheral vision was a contributing cause of the accident.

Ciarula made three recommendations in the JAG Report: (1) barricade the end of the pier; (2) paint a traffic lane stripe on the pier to mark the limits of the gate; (3) light up the pier surface. Denning disapproved recommendation # 2, pending a safety review.

All other findings of fact, opinions, and recommendations were approved by Captain Denning. In a memo to the Judge Advocate General, Rear Admiral Chase concurred in the findings of fact, opinions, and recommendations as endorsed by Captain Denning.

The court finds his report to be factual, accurate and trustworthy. The Lt. Commander, as well as Captain Denning and Rear Admiral Chase, were duly qualified to investigate and render opinions on the causes of these deaths.

Prior to and on August 29, 1987, the Navy, through its employees, had undertaken to provide illumination on Pier D-3. A light pole had been installed by the government in the area of the exit gate. (stipulated). However, on the night of the accident the direction of the light had been turned to shine in a direction away from the exit area, thus providing no illumination in that area. (stipulated). Prior to the deaths, it was feasible to turn this light toward the exit gate and thereby illuminate the exit gate area. (stipulated). In fact, the reason for the light being placed there by defendant originally had been to illuminate the exit gate for drivers using the pier at night.

On August 29, 1987, the conditions of the pier at the exit area were confusing and deceptive. Without proper illumination, reflectorization, roadway markings, and guardrails, the pier constituted a virtual trap for nighttime vehicular traffic exiting the pier. Because the gate area at the end of the pier was not well lighted or marked, Mrs. Grayson was unable to perceive and react to the illusion caused by the narrowing of the pier at the exit.

This court finds that the deaths of Mrs. Grayson and her two children were caused by the following:

The lack of illumination in the exit area of Pier D-3;

Lack of guardrails, reflectors, and roadway markings;

The dangerous and confusing design and environment created by the Navy on the pier at the exit area;

The inadequate maintenance of the pier and adjoining Navy property;

The violation of civil engineering standards for design, marking and lighting the facility;

The violation of Navy standards and recognized U.S. Government standards applicable to the design, lighting, and signalization of the pier.

This court finds that neither speed, other vehicles, traffic conditions, mechanical condition of the Grayson vehicle, drugs, alcohol, or seat belts contributed to causing this accident. Mrs. Grayson's own actions did not contribute to the occurrence of this accident. The actions of the three-year-old and eighteen-month-old children were obviously equally non-contributory.

Prior to the accident, it was both feasible and simple for the defendant to have installed roadway markings, guardrails, proper illumination, and poles on and around the northeast end of the pier to alert vehicles of the termination of the roadway so as to prevent cars from going over the edge of the pier. The Safety and Health Officer for Key West Naval Base, Mr. Alvin Wilson, whose responsibility was to inspect Pier D-3 and other Naval facilities in the Key West area to insure the safety of military personnel and their families, testified that the cost of the installation of such safety features was not a factor that precluded the installation of such safety devices.

As she drove east toward the exit, Hae Grayson headed toward the only visual reference she had, the streetlight at the turn. The seat belts of Mrs. Grayson and her children were fastened when the car was hauled out of the ocean. One must conclude, logically, that she buckled her babies into their seats and fastened her own seat belt before driving down the pier toward what she thought was the exit. Deceived by the abrupt ending of the unmarked, unlit roadway, her vehicle drove over a low, unpainted eight-inch curb on the edge of the pier. Her vehicle entered an unpaved, unmarked, poorly maintained area consisting of grass and gravel and onto a small seawall adjoining the exit gateway. The seawall catapulted her Hyundai automobile, upside down, into the ocean.

During the early morning hours of August 29, 1987, Ivan was summoned to Pier D-3 by his commanding officer. There, he saw the recovered bodies of his wife and three-year-old daughter, Marcia.

The strong current of Fleming Cut had ripped his younger daughter, Akilah, from her car seat, and her missing body was not discovered until two days later floating in the Gulf waters off Key West. When Ivan Grayson was required to identify the bodies of each member of his family at the morgue he observed the mutilation of the tiny body of his child caused by fish.

The United States Navy has published design manuals, set standards and established regulations governing the design, construction and maintenance of roads and piers. The defendant's engineers, public works officers and employees must comply with these standards, as well as ANSI, AASHTO and IES standards in maintaining roadways, piers, pavement workings, and roadway illumination.

Government design manuals, specifically DM 5.5 and 4.4, required the Navy to install guardrails, provide pavement markings and adequate lighting on Pier D-3. The government's failure to provide guardrails, roadway markings and adequate illumination on Pier D-3 violated its own established safety practices, policies and procedures. Tragically, the failure to follow...