Latus v. United States

• Decision Date: 11 April 1960
• Docket Number: Docket 25891.,No. 232,232
• Citation: 277 F.2d 264
• Parties: George LATUS, Libellant-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee and Appellant, Todd Shipyards Corp., Respondent-Impleaded-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

277 F.2d 264 (1960)

George LATUS, Libellant-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent-Appellee and Appellant, Todd Shipyards Corp., Respondent-Impleaded-Appellee.

No. 232, Docket 25891.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued March 8, 1960.

Decided April 11, 1960.

Thomas A. McDonald and Charles V. McDonald, Freeport, N. Y., for appellant.

Robert D. Klages, George Cochran Doub, Asst. Atty. Gen., Cornelius W. Wickersham, Jr., U. S. Atty., New York City, Samuel D. Slade, Benjamin H. Berman, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., for the United States.

Patrick E. Gibbons, New York City, for impleaded-appellee.

Before LUMBARD, Chief Judge, and L. HAND and LEWIS, Circuit Judges.

L. HAND, Circuit Judge.

The libellant appeals from a decree in the admiralty, D.C., 170 F.Supp. 837, dismissing his libel both in personam and in rem to recover damages for personal injuries when in the employ of the impleaded respondent, Todd Shipyards, while painting the respondent's ship "Robert Fulton." The facts were as follows. In September, 1947, the "Fulton" was withdrawn from navigation, dismantled, and laid up in the James River in the "moth-ball fleet." In October, 1951, it was decided to put her again into service, and she was towed to the Todd Shipyards under a contract by which that company agreed to make such repairs as were necessary to put her in commission. She lay at the shipyard until November 28 when, all the required work having been completed, a temporary Certificate of Safety was issued to her. Her crew had already "signed on" the day before. On November 23, the libellant, a painter employed by the Shipyards Company under this contract had been engaged in painting the ship and walked over one of the hatches which was covered with a tarpaulin. The hatch cover had been taken out to allow entry to and from the hold and had not been replaced when the tarpaulin was spread over the hatch. The libellant stepped upon the tarpaulin where the hatch cover had been taken off and fell through to the hold, sustaining severe injuries. He sued the United States as owner and the United States impleaded the Shipyards Corporation. His position is twofold. He argues that the ship was liable in rem for failing to provide him with a safe place to work; and that he was covered by a warranty of seaworthiness. He advances two other reasons to support his recovery, but these we do not find it necessary to discuss independently of our consideration of the first two.

It is now authoritatively settled, if indeed it was ever in doubt, that, when a ship has been withdrawn from navigation and while she is being reconditioned, she does not warrant her seaworthiness to those who work aboard her until she returns to active service. West v. United States, 361 U.S. 118, 80 S.Ct. 189, 4 L.Ed.2d 161. Although the work that the libellant was doing was of a kind that would be done by the crew, when the ship is in commission, so that Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099, would have applied, if she had been, we cannot agree with the libellant's argument that a ship is progressively returned to service as to those parts of her on which the necessary restoration had been done. The warranty of seaworthiness has never been divided into fragments; a ship is either fitted for her duties in all respects, or she is not fitted at all. This does not mean that before she is fit her owner may not be liable to those who come aboard because of his neglect to provide for their safety; but that is quite another matter from imposing upon him the conventional warranty of seaworthiness. There is not a syllable in the books to suggest that the warranty attaches seriatim as part by part is made ready for service. It would altogether ignore the historical origin of the doctrine to attempt to rationalize it in such a way. True, it has been much extended since The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 23 S.Ct. 483, 47 L.Ed. 760, but it has always retained the elements of its origin — an absolute duty imposed, regardless of fault, going back to archaistic notions of legal obligations and penalties imposed on inanimate objects, but retaining its vitality because of its contribution to modern notions of the distribution of loss among those who follow the sea. The fact that in the case at bar the master and some of the other officers were on board to inspect the progress of the work was immaterial. That was also true in West v. United States, supra, 361 U.S. 123, 80 S.Ct. 193.

Next is the question whether the United States, as owner, was charged with the same duty to use reasonable care to furnish the libellant with a safe place to work that attaches to...