Hines, Inc. v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 23 June 1977
• Docket Number: No. 75-1765,75-1765
• Citation: 551 F.2d 717
• Parties: HINES, INCORPORATED, a corporation, as owner and operator of the M/V THOMAS W. HINES, BARGES HINES 411B and HINES 414 and as Charterer and Operator and Owner Pro Hac Vice of the BARGE HINES 410, for Limitation of or Exoneration from Liability, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Claimant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 717

551 F.2d 717

49 A.L.R.Fed. 851

HINES, INCORPORATED, a corporation, as owner and operator of the M/V THOMAS W. HINES, BARGES HINES 411B and HINES 414 and as Charterer and Operator and Owner Pro Hac Vice of the BARGE HINES 410, for Limitation of or Exoneration from Liability, Petitioner-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Claimant-Appellee.

No. 75-1765.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued April 9, 1976.

Decided March 2, 1977.

As Amended on Rehearing June 23, 1977.

Wilder Lucas, Joseph A. Murphy, Lucas & Murphy, St. Louis, Mo., James G. Wheeler, Wheeler, Myre & Myre, Ky., Paducah, Ky., for petitioner-appellant.

Donald Kronenberger, Admiralty & Shipping Section, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., George J. Long, U.S. Atty., Louisville, Ky., for claimant-appellee.

Before EDWARDS and CELEBREZZE, Circuit Judges, and HOGAN,^* District Judge.

EDWARDS, Circuit Judge.

This is a case of first impression involving a conflict between two statutes in the field of Admiralty. They are the Limitation of Liability Act, adopted in 1851, 46 U.S.C. § 181 et seq. (1970), and the Rivers and Harbors Act, originally passed in 1899, 33 U.S.C. § 401 et seq. (1970). We believe that the plain purposes of the Rivers and Harbors Act which we construe here cannot be served by subordinating it to the Limitation of Liability Act which Congress adopted in 1851 and that Congress did not intend the subordination to that Act which appellant now seeks. As a consequence, we hold that the statute later in time (The Rivers and Harbors Act) served to amend the unlimited language of the 1851 Limitation of Liability Act. We therefore affirm the order of the District Court which, by implication, reached this same result.

This is an admiralty case involving a series of accidents which occasioned loss of life and great property damage. An Ohio River tug owned and operated by appellant Hines was proceeding downstream when the Ohio River was at flood stage with three barges in its tow, two of which were loaded with gasoline. Attempting to enter the locks in a newly constructed government project, the tow boat was driven by strong water currents through the sluice gate and broke loose from its barges. Two of the barges struck the dam and locks, caught fire and sank, occasioning the major part of the property damage involved in the case.

The pilot on the tugboat was lost at the time the tugboat went through the sluice gate and a claim has been filed on behalf of his survivors. Claims asserting injuries to other members of the crew have also been filed.¹

Hines initiated the first proceeding in this case by seeking limitation of liability in federal court and served notice on all of the parties to this proceeding. The United States appeared at the limitation proceeding and filed its claims. After Hines had filed an answer and counterclaim, the United States of America subsequently filed a motion to be exempted from the restraining order which had routinely issued restraining any other actions. The District Judge entered an order granting relaxation of the restraining order and allowing the filing of the government's action. It is from the order printed below that Hines has now taken an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1) (1970):

1. It appearing to the Court that the United States is entitled to an order relaxing the injunction contained in the Court's Order for Ad Interim Stipulation and Directing Issuance of Notice and Restraining Suits, entered May 10, 1972, and permitting the United States to file a complaint for damages and penalties pursuant to the Rivers and Harbors Act, 33 U.S.C. 401 et seq., it is therefore

2. Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the action pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 409, 411, 412, 414, and 415 for the costs incurred by the United States in removing the wrecks of Barge Hines 410 and Hines 411-B is not subject to the injunction contained in the Court's Order for Ad Interim Stipulation and Directing Issuance of Notice and Restraining Suits entered in this limitation proceeding on May 10, 1972; and it is further

3. Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the action pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 408, 411, and 412 for the costs incurred by the United States in making emergency, temporary, and permanent repairs to the completed portion of Cannelton Locks and Dam that sustained damage from being struck by the M/V Thomas W. Hines flotilla on April 20, 1972, is not subject to the injunction contained in the Court's Order for Ad Interim Stipulation and Directing Issuance of Notice and Restraining Suits entered in this limitation proceeding on May 10, 1972; and it is further

4. Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the action pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 408, 409, 411 and 412 for pecuniary penalties is not subject to the injunction contained in the Court's Order for Ad Interim Stipulation and Directing Issuance of Notice and Restraining Suits entered in this limitation proceeding on May 10, 1972; and it is further

5. Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the complaint of the United States for damages and penalties pursuant to the Rivers and Harbors Act, 33 U.S.C. 401, et seq., predicated upon the collision of the M/V Thomas W. Hines flotilla with Cannelton Locks and Dam on April 20, 1972, is ordered Filed; and it is further

6. Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the Motion for Relaxation of Restraining Order filed by the United States is hereby granted.

(Numbering of paragraphs added.)

We are persuaded that the Supreme Court decision in Wyandotte Transportation Co. v. United States, 389 U.S. 191, 88 S.Ct. 379, 19 L.Ed.2d 407 (1967), establishes that the government has a right to in personam relief against the owner of a vessel for the negligent sinking of such vessel in the navigable waterways. The rationale of this opinion, which we quote extensively, applies to all the critical issues in this case.

In Wyandotte the Supreme Court said:

"The position of petitioners is, therefore, that in the case of a negligently sunk vessel, the Government may require the owner to mark it; it may expect him to remove it or forfeit his interest in the vessel; and if the Government proceeds to remove the vessel, it possesses the right to sell vessel and cargo and retain the proceeds of these sales. Moreover, the Government may proceed criminally, under § 16 (33 U.S.C. § 411), against those responsible for the negligent sinking. But, petitioners argue, the Government may do no more. Under their view, the very detail of the Rivers and Harbors Act negates the possibility that Congress intended the Government to be able to recover removal expenses exceeding the value of the vessel and its cargo. Petitioners would apply the same analysis to a government action for declaratory or injunctive relief. Indeed, petitioners believe that authorization of the injunction remedy in another, analogous, section of the Act indicates congressional intent to withhold declaratory or injunctive relief as a means of enforcing § 15 (33 U.S.C. § 409).

"We do not agree. Petitioners' interpretation of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 would ascribe to Congress an intent at variance with the purpose of that statute. Petitioners' proposal is, moreover, in disharmony with our own prior construction of the Act, with our decisions on analogous issues of statutory construction, and with a major maritime statute of the United States. If there were no other reasonable interpretation of the statute, or if petitioners could adduce some persuasive indication that their interpretation accords with the congressional intent, we might be more disposed to accept that interpretation. But our reading of the Act does not lead us to the conclusion that Congress must have intended the statutory remedies and procedures to be exclusive of all others. There is no indication anywhere else in the legislative history of the Act, in the predecessor statutes, or in nonstatutory law that Congress might have intended that a party who negligently sinks a vessel should be shielded from personal responsibility. We therefore hold that the remedies and procedures specified by the Act for the enforcement of § 15 were not intended to be exclusive. Applying the principles of our decision in Republic Steel, (United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 362 U.S. 482, 80 S.Ct. 884, 4 L.Ed.2d 903) we conclude that other remedies, including those here sought, are available to the Government.

"II.

"Article I, § 8, of the Constitution grants to Congress the power to regulate commerce. For the exercise of this power, the navigable waters of the United States are to be deemed the 'public property of the nation, and subject to all the requisite legislation by Congress.' Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 713, 725 (18 L.Ed. 96) (1866). The Federal Government is charged with ensuring that navigable waterways, like any other routes of commerce over which it has assumed control, remain free of obstruction. Cf. In re Debs, 158 U. S. 564, 586 (15 S.Ct. 900, 907, 39 L.Ed. 1092) (1895). The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, an assertion of the sovereign power of the United States, Sanitary District v. United States, 266 U. S. 405 (45 S.Ct. 176, 69 L.Ed. 352) (1925), was obviously intended to prevent obstructions in the Nation's waterways. Despite some difficulties with the wording of the Act, we have consistently found its coverage to be broad. See, e. g., Sanitary District v. United States, supra; United States v. Republic Steel Corp., 362 U.S. 482 (80 S.Ct. 884, 4 L.Ed.2d 903) (1960). And we have found that a principal beneficiary of the Act, if not the principal beneficiary, is the Government itself. United States v. Republic Steel Corp., supra, at 492 (80 S.Ct. (884) at 890.)

"Our decisions have established, too, the general rule that the United States may sue to protect its interests. Cotton v. United States, 11 How. 229 (13 L.Ed. 675) (1851); United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co., 125 U.S. 273 (8 S.Ct. 850, 31 L.Ed. 747) (1888); ...