Guillory v. Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company

• Decision Date: 02 November 1970
• Docket Number: No. 29186.,29186.
• Citation: 433 F.2d 833
• Parties: Naven Joseph GUILLORY, Plaintiff, v. OCEAN DRILLING & EXPLORATION COMPANY, Defendant, Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BLACK GOLD MARINE, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

433 F.2d 833 (1970)

Naven Joseph GUILLORY, Plaintiff, v. OCEAN DRILLING & EXPLORATION COMPANY, Defendant, Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BLACK GOLD MARINE, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellee.

No. 29186.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

November 2, 1970.

Charles E. Lugenbuhl, Lemle, Kelleher, Kohlmeyer, Matthews & Schumacher, James H. Daigle, New Orleans, La., for defendant, third party-plaintiff-appellant.

B. C. Bennett, Jr., Marksville, La., for plaintiff.

Christopher Tompkins, Charles M. Steen, Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles, New Orleans, La., for third party defendant-appellee; Milling, Saal, Saunders, Benson & Woodward, New Orleans, La., of counsel.

Before BELL, THORNBERRY and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

This appeal asserts that the district judge, as trier of fact in this maritime accident case, failed as a matter of law to give proper weight to the completely independent status which admiralty law accords to the master of every vessel in navigation. Further error is asserted in the failure to divide damages under the contract of indemnity in suit. Finding no error in the trial court's determination that the entire fault should be visited on the seaman's employer, we affirm as against both contentions.

Naven Joseph Guillory brought suit against Ocean Drilling & Exploration Company (Odeco) to recover for injuries he sustained on October 3, 1967 while serving as a roustabout on Odeco's drilling barge, the MARGARET. Odeco denied liability to Guillory and filed a third-party complaint against Black Gold Marine, Inc., a corporation which contracted to furnish crewboat services to Odeco drilling rigs. The basis of the third-party complaint was an indemnity clause in the contract between Odeco and Black Gold, a claim of negligence and a claim for breach of implied warranty of workmanlike performance. Guillory amended his original complaint to name Black Gold as an additional defendant, charging them with negligence and charging their crewboat, SWORDFISH, with unseaworthiness.

Guillory and Odeco settled their differences before trial. Guillory's claim and Odeco's third-party complaint against Black Gold were tried before the court without a jury. At the conclusion of this trial the court found in favor of Black Gold against both Guillory and Odeco. Our review of the record reveals that the district court's findings set forth below in substantially that court's language, are clearly supported by credible evidence.

Guillory was employed by Odeco as a roustabout on the MARGARET a submersible drilling barge. At the time of the accident giving rise to this action the MARGARET was in its raised position and under tow from one location to another off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Black Gold was the owner and operator of the SWORDFISH, a 59-foot crewboat used to furnish services to various drilling rigs owned and operated by Odeco pursuant to written agreement between those parties.

On the afternoon of October 3, 1967, as the SWORDFISH was on her way out to the MARGARET to deliver drilling equipment — stabilizers — which had been called for by Odeco, her master radioed ahead to the MARGARET to request that a crane operator be available to off-load the stabilizers. At this time the MARGARET was lying in a north-south position, with her derrick end toward the south. The wind and sea were coming from a southeasterly direction. The MARGARET is equipped with a crane on each side of the rig, both of which are suitable for off-loading equipment from a boat alongside. The starboard crane is more accessible to the crane operator, however, and the crane operator who was on duty on this occasion testified that he preferred to use the starboard crane because of its convenience. Those aboard the MARGARET acknowledged the SWORDFISH's request and told the SWORDFISH to come up on the east side of the rig to be unloaded by the starboard crane. The master of the SWORDFISH protested and informed the MARGARET that he would prefer to unload on the west side since it appeared to be too rough to unload on the east, or windward, side. The master of the SWORDFISH later testified that it appeared that it would be difficult for him to control his vessel if he backed under the starboard crane, since the wind and sea would strike his bow and would tend to force him downwind. He testified that, on the other hand, he would have no difficulty on the west side since he would then have his stern into the wind and sea.

Notwithstanding the protest of the SWORDFISH the MARGARET instructed the SWORDFISH to come up on the east to be unloaded by the starboard crane. The SWORDFISH then replied to the effect that she would make one attempt to see if the operation could be performed from that side. Plaintiff also protested, when he was instructed to go down on the personnel basket, that it was dangerous to perform the operation from the starboard crane and suggested that the SWORDFISH be unloaded from the other side of the rig with the port crane. Notwithstanding plaintiff's protests, he was told that the starboard crane would be used and he was instructed to...