Griffin v. LeCompte, 85-C-0016

• Decision Date: 17 June 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85-C-0016,85-C-0016
• Citation: 471 So.2d 1382
• Parties: Nolan GRIFFIN v. Carl LeCOMPTE, Jr., and General Agents Insurance Company of America, Inc.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 1382

471 So.2d 1382

Nolan GRIFFIN v. Carl LeCOMPTE, Jr., and General Agents Insurance Company of

America, Inc.

No. 85-C-0016.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

June 17, 1985.

J.B. Jones, Jones, Jones & Alexander, Cameron, for plaintiff-applicant.

Jeffrey M. Cole, Plauche, Smith & Nieset, Lake Charles, for defendant-respondent.

WATSON, Justice.

Does a shipowner owe a warranty of seaworthiness to a participant in a seafaring venture who is injured in the service of the ship?

On August 30, 1980, plaintiff, Nolan Griffin, a shrimper for over forty years, injured his hand when a shrimp boat's motor failed and his hand was caught in the winch cable. ¹ He has a twenty percent permanent disability of the left hand. ² At the time of the accident, defendant, Carl LeCompte, Jr., the owner of the boat, was also plaintiff's son-in-law. ³ It was a "commercial inland boat." ⁴ In previous shrimping ventures, plaintiff had generally received twenty-five percent of the proceeds. ⁵ Even though this particular outing was a trial run for the boat, the group was trawling for shrimp. ⁶

The trial court concluded that this was a commercial venture. At the time of the accident, there is no question that the boat was unseaworthy: the engine had failed; it lacked motive power; the anchor was inadequate; and the winch apparatus itself was dangerous and hazardous. The trial court decided that the boat owner owed Griffin a warranty of seaworthiness which was breached in the accident. Because Griffin was the more knowledgeable of the three men, the trial court found him eighty percent at fault. General damages of $25,000; lost wages of $15,000; and medical expenses of $2,149.70 were all reduced by eighty percent to $8,429.94.

The Court of Appeal found admiralty jurisdiction but decided no warranty of seaworthiness was owed to plaintiff in the absence of an employer/employee relationship. The trial court decision was reversed. Griffin v. LeCompte, 459 So.2d 207 (La.App. 3 Cir.1984). A writ was granted to consider the judgment. 463 So.2d 1312 (La., 1985).

SEAMAN'S STATUS

The court of appeal apparently confused a Jones Act requirement for seaman's status; that is, an employment relationship, ⁷ with the test for seaman's status under general maritime law. ⁸ It is elementary that seamen retain their remedies under general maritime law in addition to the remedies provided by the Jones Act. Presley v. Vessel Carribean Seal, 709 F.2d 406 (5th Cir., 1983). Presley involved an injury to an employee aboard an oceanographic research vessel who was statutorily precluded from Jones Act coverage but nonetheless had seaman's status under general maritime law.

"The duty to provide a seaworthy vessel is absolute and extends not only to the owner's employees but to all who do seaman's work. Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946)." Baker v. Raymond Intern., Inc., 656 F.2d 173 at 181 (5th Cir., 1981), cert. den. 456 U.S. 983, 102 S.Ct. 2256, 72 L.Ed.2d 861.

Recovery under the general maritime law for unseaworthiness requires either crew member status or an injury aboard ship while doing a seaman's work. Powers v. Bethlehem Steel Corporation, 477 F.2d 643 (1st Cir., 1973), reh. den. 483 F.2d 963, cert. den. 414 U.S. 856, 94 S.Ct. 160, 38 L.Ed.2d 106. Seaman's status extends to all those aboard a ship "doing a seaman's work and incurring a seaman's hazards." ⁹

An owner's duty to furnish a seaworthy vessel must be considered apart from his Jones Act duty of reasonable care. Hussein v. Isthmian Lines, Inc., 405 F.2d 946 (5th Cir., 1968); Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc., 362 U.S. 539, 80 S.Ct. 926, 4 L.Ed.2d 941 (1960).

Unseaworthiness and Jones Act negligence are alternate grounds of recovery. McAllister v. Magnolia Petroleum Co., 357 U.S. 221, 78 S.Ct. 1201, 2 L.Ed.2d 1272 (1958); Hubbard v. Faros Fisheries, Inc., 626 F.2d 196 (1st Cir., 1980).

The question of seaman's status under general maritime law is ordinarily one of fact. Presley v. Vessel Carribean Seal, 709 F.2d 406 (5th Cir., 1983).

Under general maritime law, a seaman is anyone working aboard a vessel in navigable waters: whose labor contributes to the purpose of the vessel, Mahramas v. American Export Isbrandtsen Lines, Inc., 475 F.2d 165 (2d Cir., 1973); is exposed to the usual maritime risks; and/or does tasks traditionally performed by members of a ship's crew. International Stevedoring Company v. Haverty, 272 U.S. 50, 47 S.Ct. 19, 71 L.Ed. 157 (1926); Seas Shipping Company v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed.2d 1099 (1946). There are "pockets of Sieracki seamen remaining after the 1972 amendments [to the LHWCA]." Aparicio v. Swan Lake, 643 F.2d 1109 at 1118 (5th Cir., 1981).

" 'The duty to provide a seaworthy vessel is absolute and extends not only to the owner's employees but to all who do seaman's work. Sea's Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946). This duty is commonly called a warranty of seaworthiness, not because it is a warranty, but because it is a species of liability without fault and the duty is an "absolute, continuing, and nondelegable" incident of vessel ownership. Allen v. Seacoast Prods., Inc., 623 F.2d 355, 364 (5th Cir.1980).' Baker v. Raymond Intern., Inc., 656 F.2d 173, 181 (5th Cir.1981)." Cenac Towing Co. v. Terra Resources, 734 F.2d 251 at 253, footnote 2 (5th Cir., 1984).

The court of appeal relied on Armour v. Gradler, 448 F.Supp. 741 (W.D.Penn.1978) which held that no warranty of seaworthiness is owned to a co-adventurer in a recreational outing on a boat. However, the trial court made a factual finding that this was a commercial rather than recreational venture. The court of appeal reached the opposite conclusion without finding the trial court clearly wrong in classifying it as a commercial venture. The record supports the conclusion that plaintiff was not on a recreational outing. ¹⁰ He was in the service of the ship, contributing to the purpose of the vessel, exposed to the usual maritime risks, and doing tasks traditionally performed by members of the ship's crew.

Even if the outing were classified as recreational, Justice Marcus, speaking for a six person majority, has decided that, because of Foremost, the "substantive law of admiralty" applies to accidents on recreational vessels. McCraine v. Hondo Boats, Inc., 399 So.2d 163 at 167 (La., 1981), U.S. cert. den. 458 U.S. 1105, 102 S.Ct. 3483, 73 L.Ed.2d 1366.

An unpaid volunteer crewman on a yacht has been held to be a Jones Act seaman entitled to the warranty of seaworthiness. In re Read's Petition, 224 F.Supp. 241 (S.D.Fla.1963). It cannot be said as a matter of law that brothers-in-law on a joint venture shark fishing expedition are not seamen. Bedia v. Ford Motor Company, 58 F.R.D. 423 (E.D.N.Y.1973). Members of a yachting party were declared not to be seamen in Merrill Trust Company v. Bradford, 507 F.2d 467 (1st Cir., 1974), but there was no claim of unseaworthiness in that case. Compare Matter of Coleman, 489 F.Supp. 507 (E.D.N.Y.1980), appeal dismissed 646 F.2d 561.

The Coleman court said that the yacht owner's son, who claimed seaman's status was: "either a guest, a passenger or possibly a dutiful son just helping his father...." 489 F.Supp. at 512. At the time of the accident, the houseboat was docked for refueling, and there is no indication that young Coleman was performing a seaman's duties.

In Armour v. Gradler, 448 F.Supp. 741 (W.D.Penn.1948), Armour was a "guest" ¹¹ on the Gradler boat. The court said, in dicta, that the unseaworthiness doctrine "was not intended to include two friends fishing for recreational purposes." ¹² However, there was no evidence that Armour was performing any of a seaman's duties, which is contrary to Griffin's situation.

The status test for unseaworthiness damages is either: (1) employee status as a crew member or; (2) performance of a seaman's work while subject to a seaman's hazards. Imperial Oil, Limited v. Drlik, 234 F.2d 4 (6th Cir., 1956), cert. den. 352 U.S. 941, 77 S.Ct. 261, 1 L.Ed.2d 236. In Coleman and Armour there was no evidence that those claiming the warranty were actually working on board the boats. Compare Murphy v. Hutzel, 27 F.Supp. 473 (E.D.Penn.1939) where a guest was hurt while acting as a member of the crew on a junketing boat. "The relation of the owner of a boat and those invited to join a junketing trip on her is often a peculiar one. The boat must be managed, and otherwise guests, if familiar with the handling of boats, act as members of the crew. Such was the case here, and the libellant was hurt while acting as a member of the crew. The host and guests were common adventurers, much as if two or more together hire a boat. They are both hosts and guests." 27 F.Supp. at 475. (Emphasis added)

"The duty to provide a seaworthy ship extends not only to the owner's employees but to all 'who perform the ship's service ... with his consent or by his arrangement,' Seas Shipping Company v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 95, 66 S.Ct. 872, 877, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946)." Mahramas v. American Export Isbrandtsen Lines, Inc., 475 F.2d 165 at 169 (2d Cir., 1973). A nonemployee line handler aboard a ship doing seaman's work is owed the warranty of seaworthiness by the vessel and its owner. Sandoval v. Mitsui Sempaku K.K. Tokyo, 460 F.2d 1163 (5th Cir., 1972).

There is no question that Griffin was in the service of this shrimp boat. He had been a commercial fisherman all his working life and was assisting in this boat's mission, catching shrimp. Nothing more could be more traditionally maritime than harvesting the fruits of the sea from a boat. Bringing in the net is a seaman's task; that was what Griffin was doing when he was injured. He was working as a seaman and had seaman's status.

UNSEAWORTHINESS

"The doctrine of unseaworthiness was introduced to the general maritime law in 1903 in The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 23 S.Ct. 483, 47 L.Ed. 760. The doctrine...