Incident Aboard D/B Ocean King on Aug. 30, 1980, In re
| Decision Date | 30 August 1980 |
| Citation | 813 F.2d 679 |
| Parties | , Prod.Liab.Rep.(CCH)P 11,347 In re INCIDENT ABOARD the D/B OCEAN KING ON |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Charles M. Steen, New Orleans, La., Kent E. Westmoreland, Houston, Tex., for Cities Service Co. & Getty Oil Co.
George A. Frilot, III, Lemle, Kelleher, Kohlmeyer, Fennery, Hunley, Moss & Frilot, New Orleans, La., for Odeco, Inc.
Earl S. Eichin, Jr., New Orleans, La., for Hydril Co.
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before BROWN, RUBIN, and GARWOOD, Circuit Judges.
This case arose from a blowout and fire which occurred on board the OCEAN KING, a drilling barge, which killed five people and caused several million dollars in property damage. The Fifth Circuit confronts it for the second time. Cities Service Co. v. Ocean Drilling and Exploration Co., 758 F.2d 1063 (5th Cir.1985). We there remanded the case for the District Court to enter adequate findings of fact and conclusions of law in conformity with F.R.Civ.P. 52. Both parties contend that the findings of fact are inconsistent and present this Court with the task of explaining their consistency.
The District Court found fault on behalf of all parties in varying proportionate degrees, but only granted recovery against Hydril Company (Hydril) for the personal injury/death claims which were settled before trial and brought as assignees by Cities Service Company (Cities) and Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company (ODECO). Oddly, the Court expressly declined to grant recovery to Cities and ODECO for the physical damages and losses they suffered because the proportionate fault attributed to Hydril was small. Cities and ODECO appeal that action while Hydril appeals the Court's finding that Hydril failed to give adequate warnings on the use of the blowout preventer (BOP).
We hold that the District Court adequately made and reconciled any conflicting findings of fact on which to base its assessment of fault and causation against Hydril. We reverse the District Court's failure to apply pure comparative negligence principles and remand in order for the District Court to award recovery to Cities and ODECO for their property damages, including those sought as assignees, consistent with the declared proportionate degree of fault against Hydril.
ODECO owned and manned the jack-up drilling barge OCEAN KING which was engaged in drilling a well near Matagorda Island off the Gulf Coast of Texas. Cities and Getty Oil Company were the owners of the lease, with Cities designated as the operator. The OCEAN KING was equipped with two types of blowout preventers. Hydril Company manufactured the Hydril GL 5,000 annular blowout preventer 1 that was installed on the OCEAN KING, which, as reflected by the literature Hydril disseminated to the industry, had a rated capacity of 5,000 pounds per square inch (psi). The OCEAN KING was also equipped with ram blowout preventers 2 which had a rated capacity of 10,000 psi. Government regulations require weekly testing of all BOPs at 70% of their rated capacity. The Hydril 5,000 GL annular BOP used by the OCEAN KING was thus tested at 3,500 psi each week.
The blowout onboard the OCEAN KING occurred around 6:00 to 6:15 a.m. on August 30, 1980. At that time, the OCEAN KING had drilled to a measured depth of 13,794 feet and had installed casing to a depth of 10,337 feet. The events leading up to the blowout commenced the night before, when the drill crew on duty began removing the drill pipe from the hole.
By measuring the amount of drilling fluid pumped into the hole to replace the pipe, the drill crew discovered that the volume of drilling fluid filling the hole was less than the volume of pipe being removed from the hole. This indicated an intrusion of some foreign substance into the well bore. The crew pulled ten more stands of pipe 3 and determined that the well was no longer taking any drilling fluid. The drill pipe was then returned to the bottom of the hole in an effort to circulate the fluid and remove the gas. 4 The drill crew could smell gas mixed with the drilling fluid and identified a decrease in the weight of the drilling fluid which also indicated that gas was mixed with the drilling fluid.
Approximately fifteen minutes later, mud blew out of the dome nipple on top of the blowout preventer. The crew then closed the Hydril annular blowout preventer and measured the pressure at 2,000 psi. The pressure continued to build and at 3,700 psi the Hydril blowout preventer, which had a rated capacity of 5,000 psi, but a tested capacity of 3,500 psi, failed to function by releasing its seal around the drill pipe causing drilling fluid to erupt 60 to 70 feet above the drill floor. As a result of the loss of drilling fluid, more gas was able to enter the well bore and the casing pressure quickly climbed to 4,800 psi. The ram preventers were closed and the well was resealed.
Although the rig crew continued its efforts to control the well, the situation worsened. When the pressure reached 7,200 psi the casing ruptured, the well blew out, and the rig caught fire. This blowout and fire resulted in the death of five persons, serious burns and injuries to several more, severe damage to property of Cities and ODECO, physical damage sustained by third parties, well-control costs, and lost profits.
Prior to trial, Cities and ODECO settled the issue of fault in causing the blowout between themselves; they then settled all the personal injury and wrongful death claims of the original individual plaintiffs and took assignments of the claimants' rights against the remaining defendants. The case then proceeded to trial on the liability issues with Cities and ODECO seeking recovery from Hydril for their property damage and as assignees of the personal injury and wrongful death claims.
The case was tried before Judge Beer with an advisory jury. The advisory jury returned a verdict allocating causation and fault as follows:
ODECO 55%
Cities 38%
Hydril 7%
----
100%
Special interrogatories were submitted to the jury which were answered, at least on their face, in an inconsistent manner. The advisory jury, recognizing the apparent inconsistency, attached an advisory note to its answers explaining the basis for assessing causation and fault against Hydril. This note, in part, stated:
This jury has concluded that although the rubber packing unit per se was not defective, the Hydril Company should not be held free of all liability because of what we feel are inadequate warnings of safe, maximum pressure levels.
Although the trial Judge approved the jury's allocation of causation and fault, initially and on remand, he only allowed Cities and ODECO to recover against Hydril for the personal injury/death claims brought as assignees. He refused to allow Cities and ODECO to recover 7% of their own property damage claims from Hydril. On ODECO's Motion to Amend Judgment, the Judge indicated that his failure to follow pure comparative negligence principles was based on the disparity in proportionate fault between the parties. 5
When we remanded the case for the District Judge to enter specific Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, he was faced with the task of reconciling the conflicting findings for a second time. The Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law on remand precisely followed his original disparate treatment of the personal injury/death claims and property damage claims. The Judge continued to differentiate between the personal injury/death claims and property claims on the basis of perceived inequities of the pure comparative negligence principles of admiralty law. In his Conclusions of Law on remand, the Judge stated:
Odeco and Cities are not entitled to recover against Hydril for their own property damage claims. Having resolved their differences, Odeco and Cities come before this court as a single entity seeking redress against Hydril.... Recovery by those 93% negligent parties against Hydril (7% negligent) is unacceptable. To allow recovery to an entity that is ninety-three percent at fault against an entity that is seven percent at fault sets up a process that amounts to a travesty. 6
Neither party has been able to read the District Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in a wholly consistent manner and thus, has presented this court, as a dispassioned triumvirate, with the task of interpreting the District Court's ruling. 7 In order to explain the District Court's findings, it is first necessary to restate those findings causing the parties such great consternation.
The District Court initially, and again on remand, expressly adopted the jury's findings and allocation of causation and fault, including the 7% to Hydril, stating that the jury's "collective insight ... has come as close as any entity could come to fairly and impartially allocating percentages of responsibility and because I agree, based on my own consideration of the case, with their findings." 8
The jury's answers and handwritten note which were adopted by the Judge produced an apparent inconsistent verdict. This brings to mind what has been regarded as the outstanding advantages of special verdicts and the attendant burdens their use imposes on trial judges.
The special verdict permitted by Rule 49(a) is a splendid device for clarification of jury verdicts and for focusing the jurors' attention on the disputed facts without the possible confusion that may result from a lengthy charge...
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