Myhran v. Johns-Manville Corp.

• Decision Date: 27 August 1984
• Docket Number: 82-3661,Nos. 82-3660,JOHNS-MANVILLE,s. 82-3660
• Parties: Jay W. MYHRAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.CORPORATION, et al., Defendants, and Fibreboard Corporation and Raymark Industries, Inc., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1119

741 F.2d 1119

Jay W. MYHRAN, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JOHNS-MANVILLE CORPORATION, et al., Defendants, and Fibreboard Corporation and Raymark Industries, Inc.,

Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 82-3660, 82-3661.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Feb. 7, 1984.

Decided Aug. 27, 1984.

Raymond J. Conboy, Pozzi, Wilson, Atchison, O'Leary & Conboy, Portland, Or., for plaintiff-appellee.

Philip A. Talmadge, Karr, Tuttle, Koch, Campbell, Mawer & Morrow, John G. Cooper, Stafford, Frey & Mertel, Seattle, Wash., for defendants-appellants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Before WRIGHT and HUG, Circuit Judges, and ORRICK, ^* District judge.

HUG, Circuit Judge:

Raymark Industries, Inc. and Fibreboard Corporation appeal from a judgment awarding Jay W. Myhran compensatory damages against Raymark and Fibreboard and punitive damages against Raymark. Myhran had developed asbestosis, and he alleged that his exposure to asbestos products in the course of employment had caused him personal injury. The district court tried this case in admiralty without a jury. The dispositive issue in this case is whether Myhran's tort claims bear enough of a relationship to traditional maritime activity to justify the exercise of admiralty jurisdiction. We reverse because the district court lacked admiralty jurisdiction.

I

This is a products liability case against the manufacturers of asbestos products for damages suffered from the exposure to asbestos dust over a period of 18 to 20 years. The district court found that the overwhelming portion of Myhran's exposure to asbestos-containing products occurred while he was employed as a pipefitter engaged in the repair and renovation of vessels on navigable waters. Myhran's job required that he remove insulation materials before working on pipes. These materials contained asbestos, asbestos cement, and asbestos cloth. Myhran's work tearing out insulation caused asbestos fibers to be circulated in the air. In 1980, Myhran discovered that he was suffering from asbestosis, and he subsequently underwent a thoracotomy.

Myhran filed suit seeking recovery in strict products liability against 29 manufacturers and sellers of asbestos and asbestos products. Federal jurisdiction was initially based on diversity of citizenship, but Myhran was allowed to amend his complaint to add admiralty as an additional basis of jurisdiction. Just prior to trial, all but three of the defendants settled with Myhran and were dismissed from the case. At the commencement of trial, Myhran moved to dismiss all nonadmiralty claims against Johns-Manville, Fibreboard, and Raymark. We are unable to determine from the record the status of the nonadmiralty claims, but the district court directed that the remaining claims against these defendants be tried in admiralty. The district court found Johns-Manville, Fibreboard, and Raymark liable for compensatory damages. The court also found Johns-Manville and Raymark liable for punitive damages. Shortly before judgment was entered, Johns-Manville initiated bankruptcy proceedings. The district court therefore entered judgment only against Fibreboard and Raymark.

II

Historically, admiralty jurisdiction in tort cases depended upon the locality of the wrong. If the tort occurred upon the high seas or navigable waters, the tort action was within admiralty jurisdiction. The Plymouth, 70 U.S. (3 Wall.) 20, 35-36, 18 L.Ed. 125 (1866). In Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, 409 U.S. 249, 93 S.Ct. 493, 34 L.Ed.2d 454 (1972), however, consideration of the peculiar results from the mechanical application of the locality test led the Supreme Court to reject maritime locality as the sole criterion for admiralty jurisdiction. The Supreme Court noted the absurdity of invoking admiralty jurisdiction for torts with a maritime locality, but absolutely no connection to maritime activity. Id. at 255-256, 93 S.Ct. at 498 (disapproving decisions sustaining admiralty jurisdiction over claims by swimmers injured by other swimmers or by submerged objects in shallow waters near shore). Therefore, the Supreme Court held that maritime locality alone was insufficient to invoke admiralty jurisdiction. In addition, the Court held it was necessary that "the wrong bear a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity." Id. at 268, 93 S.Ct. at 504.

Executive Jet involved a suit for property damage to a jet that struck a flock of seagulls upon takeoff and sank in the navigable waters of Lake Erie. In applying this additional requirement, the Supreme Court considered the history and purpose of admiralty law:

The law of admiralty has evolved over many centuries, designed and molded to handle problems of vessels relegated to ply the waterways of the world, beyond whose shores they cannot go. That law deals with navigational rules--rules that govern the manner and direction those vessels may rightly move upon the waters. When a collision occurs or a ship founders at sea, the law of admiralty looks to those rules to determine fault, liability, and all other questions that may arise from such a catastrophe. Through long experience, the law of the sea knows how to determine whether a particular ship is seaworthy, and it knows the nature of maintenance and cure. It is concerned with maritime liens, the general average, captures and prizes, limitation of liability, cargo damage, and claims for salvage.

Id. at 269-270, 93 S.Ct. at 505.

Although the Executive Jet case involved an aviation tort claim, the Court in Foremost Insurance Co. v. Richardson, 457 U.S. 668, 674, 102 S.Ct. 2654, 2658, 73 L.Ed.2d 300 (1982) made clear that the principle was not limited to aviation cases, but was applicable to admiralty cases in general. Emphasizing the need for certainty in the protection of maritime commerce and the need for uniform rules governing navigation, the Supreme Court in Foremost Insurance found that a tort claim involving the negligent operation of a noncommercial vessel had a sufficient nexus to traditional maritime activity to sustain admiralty jurisdiction in the district court. Id. at 674-677, 102 S.Ct. at 2658-2660. The Supreme Court's analysis in Executive Jet and Foremost Insurance provides the basis for evaluating whether the district court properly invoked admiralty jurisdiction in this case.

III

Since Myhran was exposed to asbestos products during the repair of vessels floating on navigable waters, the locality requirement is satisfied. Admiralty jurisdiction in this case turns on whether Myhran's exposure to asbestos products bears a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity.

We recently considered whether tort claims arising out of exposure to asbestos products during construction of ships floating on navigable waters satisfied the maritime relationship requirement of admiralty jurisdiction. Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. United States District Court, 698 F.2d 967 (9th Cir.1983) (per curiam). In Owens-Illinois, we indicated that four factors must be considered in determining whether an alleged tort bears a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity: "(1) traditional concepts of the role of admiralty law; (2) the function...