Hassinger v. Tideland Elec. Membership Corp.
| Decision Date | 20 November 1985 |
| Docket Number | 83-1078-CIV-5.,No. 83-1077-CIV-5,83-1077-CIV-5 |
| Citation | 627 F. Supp. 65,1986 AMC 537 |
| Parties | Charles R. HASSINGER, Administrator of the Estate of Stanley H. Hassinger, III, Plaintiff, v. TIDELAND ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP CORPORATION, Coleman Company, Inc., and Coast Catamaran Corporation, Defendants. Janet Mead PROCTOR, Administratrix of the Estate of Robert Diego Proctor, Plaintiff, v. TIDELAND ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP CORPORATION, Coleman Company, Inc., and Coast Catamaran Corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of North Carolina |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
W. Timothy Haithcock, Barnes, Braswell & Haithcock, Goldsboro, N.C., Daniel L. Brawley, Carter T. Lambeth, Marshall, Williams, Gorham & Brawley, Wilmington, N.C., for James B. Powell.
George R. Ragsdale, Moore, Ragsdale, Liggett, Ray & Foley, P.A., Raleigh, N.C., for Tideland Elec.
McNeill Smith, H. Miles Foy, E. Garrett Walker, Smith Moore Smith Schell & Hunter, Greensboro, N.C., for Charles Hassinger.
Armistead J. Maupin, John Turner Williamson, Maupin, Taylor & Ellis, P.A., Raleigh, N.C., Robert M. Hughes, III, Seawell, Daughton, Hughes & Jimms, Norfolk, Va., for Coleman Co., Inc. & Coast Catamaran Corp.
McNeill Smith, H. Miles Foy, E. Garrett Walker, Smith Moore Smith Schell & Hunter, Greensboro, N.C., for Janet Proctor.
This case arises from the electrocutions of three men, Stanley H. Hassinger, III, Robert D. Proctor, and Stuart L. Powell, which occurred on June 5, 1982, at Silver Lake in Okracoke, North Carolina. The men were killed while beaching Hassinger's 18-foot Hobie Cat sailboat when the top of the mast contacted an overhead power line. Named as defendants in this action are Tideland Electric Membership Corporation ("Tideland"), as the owner and operator of the electric power line, and Coleman Company, Inc., ("Coleman") and Coast Catamaran Corporation ("Coast"), as the alleged designers, manufacturers and sellers of the Hassinger Hobie Cat sailboat. The estates of Stanley Hassinger, III, and Robert Proctor have invoked both the general admiralty jurisdiction of the court (28 U.S.C. § 1333), and admiralty jurisdiction pursuant to 46 U.S.C. § 740 (), and the case is presently before the court on defendants' motions to dismiss for want of such jurisdiction.1
During the morning and early afternoon of June 5, 1982, Stanley H. Hassinger, III, Robert Diego Proctor, and Stuart L. Powell, were sailing in two 18-foot Hobie Cat sailboats across Pamlico Sound to Silver Lake in Okracoke, North Carolina, approximately a thirty mile sailing distance. (deposition of H.J. King, IV at p. 25). Rex King, the only survivor of this tragic accident, accompanied Hassinger on Hassinger's boat, and Proctor and Powell were together on Powell's boat. At approximately 1:00 p.m., as the Hassinger and Powell boats entered Silver Lake from Pamlico Sound, the four men began to search for a place to beach their boats.2 When they spotted what appeared to be an appropriate place, they prepared to beach the two sailboats; it was decided that the Hassinger boat would be pulled ashore first, while the Powell boat remained in the water. In the process of beaching the Hassinger sailboat (a process which required the occupants to get off the boat and pull it ashore), the top of the mast contacted an energized, uninsulated, overhead power line carrying 7,200 volts, and Hassinger, Proctor and Powell were electrocuted; King managed to survive the incident, being thrown or knocked clear of the boat shortly after the mast contacted the power line.3
The specific facts surrounding this incident are unclear and are the source of considerable dispute. First, it is unclear whether any portion of the boat was in the water at the time the mast struck the power line. Second, the evidence is also unclear as to whether any of the decedents were in the water at the time the mast contacted the wire. Finally, since the power line has been moved since the time of the accident, its exact location is unknown; therefore, whether it constantly extended over the water at the mast contact point, or whether it would have done so only at high tide, is unclear.
All parties agree that the decision in Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, 409 U.S. 249, 93 S.Ct. 493, 34 L.Ed.2d 454 (1972), sets forth the controlling criteria for determining whether a tort action is "maritime" and thus within the admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts. The two-part test of Executive Jet requires (1) a maritime locality of the injury, and (2) a "significant relationship to traditional maritime activity" to the alleged wrong. Id. at 268, 93 S.Ct. at 254. Therefore, a plaintiff must satisfy both the maritime locality, or "situs," and "nexus" requirements to invoke the admiralty jurisdiction of the district court.4
Though the maritime activity need not be an exclusively commercial one, id. at 674, 102 S.Ct. at 2658, the alleged wrong must bear a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity. In determining whether a sufficient nexus exists vis à vis the alleged wrong, courts now consider the following factors:
the functions and roles of the parties; the types of vehicles and instrumentalities involved; the causation and the type of injury; and traditional concepts of the role of admiralty law. Kelly v. Smith, 485 F.2d 520, 525 (5th Cir.1973), quoted in Bendlin v. Virginia Electric and Power Co., 449 F.Supp. 934, 936 (E.D.N. C.1978).
As previously indicated, the evidence varies substantially as to the location of both the boat and the decedents at the time of the accident. Specifically, the dispute revolves around the question of whether or not the boat and/or the decedents were partially in the water. Because the court finds that the boat and the decedents would have been partially in the water had it been high tide at the time of the accident, however, it is unnecessary to resolve this factual dispute. The evidence shows that when the mast contacted the power line, the decedents and at least part of the boat were on the portion of the beach located in between the mean high water mark and the mean low water mark. The photographs on which defendant so strongly relies demonstrate this point. (See specifically Hoft exhibit 2, from May 14, 1984, deposition of Phillip Hoft.) First, the back portion of the Hassinger Hobie Cat was seaward of the vegetation line; this edge of the vegetation corresponds closely to the mean high water mark. (deposition of Loie Priddy at pp. 101 et seq.). Second, in the foreground of Hoft exhibit 2, an orange pipe stands vertically in the sand at or near the center of the Hassinger Hobie Cat. A land survey conducted by plaintiffs' expert Loie Priddy demonstrates that this orange pipe was approximately twenty (20) feet seaward of the highway. This survey further demonstrates that the mean high water mark was approximately twenty-four (24) feet seaward of the highway. Assuming, as defendant contends, that the photographs accurately depict the position of the boat and height of the water at the time the accident occurred,5 the photographs and the survey together demonstrate that the Hobie Cat would have been partially in the water at high tide.6
The evidence also varies substantially as to the location of the power line. This factual dispute revolves around whether or not the power line, or any portion thereof, extended over the water. In support of its contention that the line extended entirely over dry land, even at high tide, defendant offers the testimony of several witnesses who so observed it. (See affidavits of William Bart, Deputy Sheriffs Teeter and Jackson, Murray Fulcher, Ronald T. O'Neal and D.B. Fletcher). In contrast, plaintiffs' evidence shows that the power line extended over the water, at least at high tide (See deposition and survey of Loie Priddy, affidavit and photograph of Billy Smith, and deposition of Robert Schafer). Although not critical to the court's analysis,7 the court finds that plaintiff's evidence on this point is the most credible. Plaintiffs' evidence, particularly Billy Smith's affidavit and photograph, demonstrates that the power line extended over the water at high tide. Three days after the accident, Mr. Smith, accompanied by two of defendant's employees, observed the accident scene. With their assistance, Smith measured and photographed the power line. The height of the wires above the ground was measured with an insulated measuring stick, and a stick was driven in the sand directly beneath the burn point on the wire—which was identified as the point the sailboat mast contacted the power line. The photograph of this stick clearly shows that the power line was seaward of the edge of the vegetation, which corresponds closely with the mean high water...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Delta Marine, Inc. v. Whaley, 91-44-CIV-7-MC.
...diversity or federal question jurisdiction, all claims must be submitted to a jury upon demand. Id. In Hassinger v. Tideland Elec. Membership Corp., 627 F.Supp. 65 (E.D.N.C.1985), the court granted a jury trial where claims based on diversity were joined with claims based on admiralty juris......
-
Vodusek v. Bayliner Marine Corp.
...to Trial by Jury, 82 Colum. L.Rev. 784 (1982). See also Fitzgerald, 374 U.S. at 21, 83 S.Ct. at 1650; Hassinger v. Tideland Elec. Membership Corp., 627 F.Supp. 65 (E.D.N.C.1985), aff'd only on related grounds, 781 F.2d 1022 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1004, 106 S.Ct. 3294, 92 L.Ed.2d......