Hornsby v. Fish Meal Company, 26749.
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | JOHN R. BROWN, , and GODBOLD, Circuit and CABOT |
| Citation | 431 F.2d 865 |
| Parties | Mrs. Barbara Jean HORNSBY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The FISH MEAL COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellees. Jeraldine Fruge WILLIAMS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LOUISIANA MENHADEN COMPANY, Inc., et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Docket Number | No. 26749.,26749. |
| Decision Date | 06 August 1970 |
431 F.2d 865 (1970)
Mrs. Barbara Jean HORNSBY et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
The FISH MEAL COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Jeraldine Fruge WILLIAMS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
LOUISIANA MENHADEN COMPANY, Inc., et al., Defendants-Appellees.
No. 26749.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
August 6, 1970.
J. B. Jones, Jr., Cameron, La., Fromkin & Fromkin, Omaha, Neb., for Hornsby and another.
Payton R. Covington, Lake Charles, La., for Jeraldine Fruge Williams.
Edgar F. Barnett, Lake Charles, La., A. R. Christovich, Jr., New Orleans, La., L. B. Ullstrom, Denver, Colo., for defendants-appellees; Christovich & Kearney, New Orleans, La., of counsel.
Plauche & Plauche and A. Lane Plauche, Lake Charles, La., for Fireman's Fund Ins. Co.
Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, and GODBOLD, Circuit Judge and CABOT, District Judge.
JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge:
Time and tide do not wait, but Courts do.1 What was a perplexing issue has been resolved by the deliverance of the Supreme Court, an event for which we hopefully waited.
This case arose from the events on a clear summer afternoon in 1966. Roy Hornsby and Charles Williams were piloting small, single engine aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico, within one marine league of the Louisiana shore and thus the Death on the High Seas by Wrongful Act statute is inapplicable. 46 U.S. C.A. § 761 et seq. Each was engaged in spotting schools of menhaden for their respective employers' surface fishing boats when their aircraft collided, plunging into the sea and killing the pilots.
There has been no adequate explanation of the causes and exact circumstances of the collision. The survivors of each pilot sought damages for their wrongful deaths. And the District Court, 285 F.Supp. 990, assessed responsibility for this aeronautical enigma by attributing the cause of the collision to each pilot — 50% to Hornsby and 50% to Williams. The District Court, however, denied recovery to both families on the ground that there was no death action at admiralty and that under the adjacent state's — Louisiana — wrongful death action
We reverse the District Court. There is now a cause of action for wrongful death in admiralty that is not dependent on adjacent state law. Consequently, the traditional admiralty comparative negligence doctrine is applicable. This has been done, hopefully in response to this Court's entreaties in ...
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Neal v. Barisich, Inc., Civil A. No. 88-3119.
...cases), it went on to explain that admiralty courts no longer apply state law on its own force, id. (citing Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865, 867 (5th Cir.1970), which "refused to apply state law in a post-Moragne wrongful death action," S/S Helena, 529 F.2d at 749 n. 8), but only loo......
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Executive Jet Aviation, Inc v. City of Cleveland, Ohio, 71-678
...over airplane accidents is discussed infra, at 271—272. We do not decide that question in this case. 16. Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865 (CA5 1970); Harris v. United Air Lines, Inc., 275 F.Supp. 431, 432 (SD Iowa 1967). Cf. Scott v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 399 F.2d 14, 21—22 (CA3 19......
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Petition of M/V Elaine Jones, 71-2226.
...Central Gulf S.S. Corp., 453 F.2d 137 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 948, 93 S.Ct. 286, 34 L.Ed.2d 218; Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865 (5th Cir. While not crucial to our decision, we note that other circuits that have considered the issue have uniformly denied grief damages......
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Thompson v. Offshore Co., Civ. A. No. 74-H-1632.
...action. However, the general maritime cause of action for wrongful death is not dependent on adjacent state law, Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865 (5th Cir. 1970), and if "elements of recovery are borrowed from state death acts they must be consonant with federal maritime policies." Pe......
-
Neal v. Barisich, Inc., Civil A. No. 88-3119.
...cases), it went on to explain that admiralty courts no longer apply state law on its own force, id. (citing Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865, 867 (5th Cir.1970), which "refused to apply state law in a post-Moragne wrongful death action," S/S Helena, 529 F.2d at 749 n. 8), but only loo......
-
Executive Jet Aviation, Inc v. City of Cleveland, Ohio, 71-678
...over airplane accidents is discussed infra, at 271—272. We do not decide that question in this case. 16. Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865 (CA5 1970); Harris v. United Air Lines, Inc., 275 F.Supp. 431, 432 (SD Iowa 1967). Cf. Scott v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 399 F.2d 14, 21—22 (CA3 19......
-
Petition of M/V Elaine Jones, 71-2226.
...Central Gulf S.S. Corp., 453 F.2d 137 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 948, 93 S.Ct. 286, 34 L.Ed.2d 218; Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865 (5th Cir. While not crucial to our decision, we note that other circuits that have considered the issue have uniformly denied grief damages......
-
Thompson v. Offshore Co., Civ. A. No. 74-H-1632.
...action. However, the general maritime cause of action for wrongful death is not dependent on adjacent state law, Hornsby v. Fish Meal Co., 431 F.2d 865 (5th Cir. 1970), and if "elements of recovery are borrowed from state death acts they must be consonant with federal maritime policies." Pe......