In re Complaint of J.A.R. Barge Lines, L.P., CIV.A.03-163.

• Decision Date: 22 January 2004
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A.03-163.,CIV.A.03-163.
• Citation: 307 F.Supp.2d 668
• Parties: In the Matter of THE COMPLAINT OF J.A.R. BARGE LINES, L.P., as Owner, and Mon River Towing, Inc., as Owner P2o Hac Vice, of the M/V Rose G., for Exoneration from and/or Limitation of Liability
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania

307 F.Supp.2d 668

In the Matter of THE COMPLAINT OF J.A.R. BARGE LINES, L.P., as Owner, and Mon River Towing, Inc., as Owner P2o Hac Vice, of the M/V Rose G., for Exoneration from and/or Limitation of Liability

No. CIV.A.03-163.

United States District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania.

January 22, 2004.

Frederick B. Goldsmith, Edwin B. Palmer, Burns, White & Hickton, Pittsburgh, PA, for Matter of Complaint of J.A.R. Barge Lines, Inc., Mon River Towing, Inc.

Meredith L. Lawrence, Warsaw, KY, for Mark Allen Smith.

Leonard Fornella, Kenneth F. Klanica, Heintzman, Warren, Wise & Fornella, PC, Pittsburgh, PA, for Ingram Barge Co.

MEMORANDUM

STANDISH, District Judge.

I.

In this civil action, plaintiffs, J.A.R. Barge Lines, L.P. (JAR) and Mon River Towing, Inc. (MRT), filed a motion for exoneration from and/or limitation of liability, pursuant to the Limitation of Vessel Owner's Liability Act, 46 U.S.C.App. § 181 et seq. In response, Mark Allen Smith (Smith), entered an answer and asserted claims including negligence, gross negligence and unseaworthiness. Smith seeks compensatory and punitive damages and a trial by jury. Presently before the court is plaintiffs' objection to and motion to dismiss and/or strike certain portions of Smith's answer, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) and 12(f) and Rule F(8) of the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty Claims of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For reasons set forth below, the motion will be granted.

II.

In summary, plaintiffs' complaint alleges the following facts:

On January 21, 2003, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Smith was ordered from the M/V ROSE G. to Barge OR-4833 to "flop" the barge. While in the process of "flopping the barge," Smith's right leg became caught by a marine "junk" line that had been left aboard Barge No. OR-4833. Smith was thrown overboard into the water and drug up the side of another barge. The injuries to Smith's right leg required that it be amputated.

III.

A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim tests the sufficiency of a complaint. Powell v. Ridge, 189 F.3d 387, 394 (3d Cir.1999). In deciding a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the court accepts as true the facts pleaded in the complaint and any reasonable inferences derived from those facts. Langford v. City of Atlantic City, 235 F.3d 845, 847 (3d Cir.2000). Additionally, the court is to construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Weston v. Pennsylvania, 251 F.3d 420, 425 (3d Cir.2001). However, the court is not required to accept as true legal conclusions or unwarranted factual inferences. Doug Grant, Inc. v. Greate Bay Casino Corp., 232 F.3d 173, 183-84 (3d Cir.2000).¹

Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(f) provides that the court "may order stricken from any pleading any insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter." The "standard for striking under Rule 12(f) is strict." Lakits v. York, 258 F.Supp.2d 401, 409 (E.D.Pa.2003) (citation omitted). Although courts possess considerable discretion in weighing Rule 12(f) motions, such motions are disfavored and will generally be denied unless the material bears no possible relation to the matter at issue and may result in prejudice to the moving party. See, e.g., Miller v. Group Voyagers, Inc., 912 F.Supp. 164, 168 (E.D.Pa.1996) (citation omitted). Motions to strike, however, may serve a useful purpose by eliminating insufficient defenses and saving the time and expense in litigating issues which will not affect the outcome of the case. Put another way, one purpose of a Rule 12(f) motion is to "avoid the expenditure of time and money that must arise from litigating spurious issues by dispensing with those issues prior to trial." United States v. Consolidation Coal Co., 1991 WL 333694, at *2 (W.D.Pa. July 5, 1991) (citations omitted).

IV.

Plaintiffs object to and move the court to dismiss Smith'3 claim for punitive damages and his demand for a jury trial.

1.

Plaintiffs first assert that punitive damages are unavailable (1) under the Jones Act, (2) under general maritime law for unseaworthiness, or (3) under general maritime law for failure to pay maintenance and cure, even if such failure is willful and arbitrary. Smith has not responded to plaintiffs' first two arguments in either his Response and Memorandum in Opposition (doc. no. 21) or his Sur Reply (doc. no. 23). Accordingly, the court will consider only whether punitive damages are available under general maritime law in connection with plaintiffs' alleged failure to pay maintenance and cure.

Under general maritime law, a member of a ship's crew who is injured or becomes ill while serving onboard the vessel can recover "maintenance and cure" from the shipowner/employer. Maintenance is the living allowance for a seaman while he is ashore recovering from injury or illness. Cure is payment of medical expenses incurred in treating the seaman's injury or illness. An employer's obligation to furnish maintenance and cure continues until the seaman has reached the point of maximum cure, that is until the seaman is cured or his condition is diagnosed as permanent and incurable. O'Connell v. Interocean Mgmt. Corp., 90 F.3d 82, 84 (3d Cir.1996) (citations omitted).

If the shipowner unreasonably refuses to pay a marine employee's claim for maintenance and cure, the employee may recover consequential damages, including lost wages, pain and suffering, and attorneys' fees and costs. Id.

The Jones Act applies when a seaman has been killed or injured as a result of negligence, and it limits recovery to pecuniary losses. 46 U.S.C.App. § 688(a) Miles v. Apex Marine Corp., 498 U.S. 19, 36, 111 S.Ct. 317, 112 L.Ed.2d 275 (1990). In Miles, the mother and administratrix of a Jones Act seaman who was murdered on board a ship on which he was working, sought damages for loss of society from the vessel's operators, the charterer, and the owner of the vessel. Id. at 21, 111 S.Ct. 317. The court held that because the Death on the High Seas Act and the Jones Act preclude recovery for loss of society, there is also "no recovery for loss of society in a general maritime action for the wrongful death of a Jones Act seaman." Id. at 33, 111 S.Ct. 317.

The Court stated, "[t]oday we restore a uniform rule applicable to all actions for the wrongful death of a seaman, whether under DOHSA [Death on the High Seas Act], the Jones Act, or general maritime law." Id. The Court also held that because the estate of the seaman "cannot recover for his lost future income under the Jones Act, it cannot do so under general maritime law." Id. at 36, 111 S.Ct. 317.² Therefore, when a wrongful death or personal injury claim is brought under the Jones Act, there can be no recovery for nonpecuniary losses, such as loss of consortium/society and punitive damages.³

In Guevara v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 59 F.3d 1496 (5th Cir.1995), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit applied the Miles"uniformity principle" when it concluded that, because punitive damages for a maintenance and cure claim are unavailable under the Jones Act, "the same cause of action under the general maritime law for the failure to pay maintenance and cure cannot provide a punitive recovery, even if willfulness is demonstrated." Id. at 1512. Hence, once the factual setting of a case is found to be covered by the Jones Act, punitive damages are prohibited. Id. at 1506 & n. 7.

In determining whether the factual setting in Guevara was covered by the Jones Act, that court reasoned:

[T]here are really two "types" of maintenance and cure actions. The tort-like type involves a personal injury; i.e., typically a worsening of the seaman's physical or mental health caused by the failure to provide maintenance or, more likely, cure. The contract-like type need not involve a personal injury (although it may); it need only involve the loss of a monetary outlay. Because the tort-like maintenance and cure action involves a personal injury, however, it overlaps with the personal injury coverage of the Jones Act. Such an action is frequently brought under the Jones Act .... As mentioned, once there is a statutory/general maritime law overlap in the factual circumstances that are covered, the Miles damages uniformity principle is invoked, and punitive damages would be precluded under the general maritime action for maintenance and cure.

Guevara, 59 F.3d at 1511-12 (footnote and citations omitted).

Other courts have employed similar reasoning. See Glynn v. Roy Al Boat Mgmt. Corp., 57 F.3d 1495, 1505 (9th Cir.1995)(punitive damages unavailable in action for maintenance and cure by nonfatally injured seaman); Miller v. American President Lines, Ltd., 989 F.2d 1450, 1459 (6th Cir.1993)(punitive damages not available under general maritime law); Nurkiewicz v. Vacation Break U.S.A., Inc., 771 So.2d 1271, 1274 (Fla.App. 4th Dist.2000) (punitive damages not recoverable in maintenance and cure action).

The cases Smith relies on in support of his argument that punitive damages are available in a claim for failure to pay maintenance and cure where the failure is willful, arbitrary or callous are unavailing. Smith first cites Hines v. J.A. LaPorte, Inc., 820 F.2d 1187 (11th Cir.1987). Hines considered whether a seaman could recover punitive damages from a private vessel owner, in addition to reasonable attorney's fees, for the arbitrary and willful denial of maintenance and cure payments. The court held that "both reasonable attorney's fees and punitive damages may be legally awarded in a proper case." Id. at 1189. As an initial matter, the court notes that Hines was decided before the Supreme Court's decision in Miles and thus did not consider the implications of the Miles uniformity principle. Moreover, Hines is based upon Complaint of Merry Shipping Inc., 650 F.2d 622 (5th Cir.1981), and older Fifth Circuit cases that were explicitly overruled in Guevara, 59 F.3d at 1506. Furthermore, lower courts in the...