Neill v. Diamond M. Drilling Co.
Decision Date | 08 June 1970 |
Docket Number | No. 28013.,28013. |
Citation | 426 F.2d 487 |
Parties | Guy L. NEILL, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. DIAMOND M. DRILLING CO. et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
James C. Watson, Keys, Russell, Watson & Seaman, Corpus Christi, Tex., for defendants-appellants.
D. Yancey White, Guy Allison, Allison, Baker & White, Corpus Christi, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before RIVES, GOLDBERG and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges.
This is an action for personal injuries under the general maritime law and the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688. Plaintiff was a motorman on a drilling crew on Rig No. 21, owned and operated by defendant-appellant. At the time of plaintiff's injury, Rig No. 21 was a submersible drilling barge bottomed in Corpus Christi Bay on navigable waters and engaged in drilling operations. The district court found that Rig No. 21 was a "vessel" within the meaning of the general maritime law and the Jones Act. That finding cannot be set aside as clearly erroneous or as contrary to law. Gianfala v. Texas Company, 1955, 350 U.S. 879, 76 S.Ct. 141, 100 L.Ed. 775, rev'g 222 F.2d 382 (5 Cir. 1955); Offshore Company v. Robison, 5 Cir. 1959, 266 F.2d 769; Producers Drilling Co. v. Gray, 5 Cir. 1966, 361 F.2d 432; Chenevert v. Clinch Drilling Co., E.D.La.1967, 273 F.Supp. 943. We do not agree with the appellant that the recent cases of Rodrigue v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 1969, 395 U.S. 352, 89 S.Ct. 1835, 23 L.Ed.2d 360, and Nacirema Operating Co. v. Johnson, 1969, 396 U.S. 212, 90 S.Ct. 347, 24 L. Ed.2d 371, impair the present validity of those decisions.
Plaintiff's duties included general maintenance and care of the engines and generators during drilling operations, chipping and painting the vessel, and aiding in moving the vessel from its port near Corpus Christi to the drilling site. He did not live on the vessel but all of his work was performed aboard it in accomplishment of the vessel's primary function as a drilling rig. The district court found that he was a "seaman" aboard the vessel and might properly pursue this action under the general maritime law and the Jones Act. That finding is clearly correct under the test articulated in Offshore Company v. Robison, supra, 266 F.2d at 779.
On adequate evidence the district court found the manner of plaintiff's injury as follows:
The district court found that the driller on the prior shift was negligent in failing to inform Shaw that he had tightened the clutch on the sand-line drum, and that Shaw was negligent in failing to discover that fact by inspecting the operations report, and was further negligent in failing to gradually engage the master clutch in order to determine if the sand-line drum was properly disengaged, and that each of these acts of negligence was a proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries and damages. Those findings are amply supported by the evidence and are not clearly erroneous. That being true, the court's further holding that the condition of the clutch mechanism rendered the vessel unseaworthy was not essential to the validity of the decision, and we need not determine whether the vessel was "in navigation" within the use of that term in making the warranty of seaworthiness applicable. See Rogers v. M/V Ralph Bollinger, E.D.La.1968, 279 F.Supp. 92, 94, 95, and cases there cited.
The district court found that the plaintiff was not contributorily negligent and that finding is not clearly erroneous.
The district court awarded damages in the total amount of $66,000.00 against which it credited $1,610.00 which had been paid plaintiff in compensation. The appellant insists that the court awarded excessive damages and allowed a double recovery. Plaintiff was 39 years of age at the time of the accident. His injuries were to his head, right ear, back and right leg. There was evidence that the injuries to plaintiff's ear and to his back were permanent. The district court found that plaintiff had lost wages and earnings capacity which will probably extend to the end of his life; that he had suffered physical pain and mental anguish and will probably continue so to suffer to the end of his life. Finally the district court found that:
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
Before RIVES, GOLDBERG and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges.
The award of damages for "a loss of physical capacity other than his capacity to earn wages," Diamond insists, allows a double recovery in that it overlaps with the award of damages for lost wages and earning capacity and/or past and future physical pain and mental anguish.
Diamond also objects to the district court's findings on damages in that: (1) In its findings that Neill would suffer future lost wages and earning capacity, the court did not consider actual earning capacity but calculated damages on Neill's inability to engage in oilfield work; (2) the court erred in not specifying the percentage of discount to reduce future earnings to present value.
These errors, Diamond contends, cannot be adequately reviewed by this Court until the district court specifies the exact amount for each element of damages and the factual basis for computing each amount.
On the basis of Rule 52(a), Fed.R.Civ. P., numerous courts have remanded with direction that the district court specify separately the amount of damages awarded for each of the several items held recoverable.1 Although several of these decisions are distinguishable in that they were also remanded on the question of liability,2 the remaining cases were remanded on the sole question of specificity of the damage award.
In contrast to the above cases, other cases have held that, under the circumstances, remand for further findings as to the...
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...was a seaman under the Jones Act, even though he was injured in automobile accident en route to the ship); Neill v. Diamond Drilling Co., 426 F.2d 487, 489-90 (5th Cir.1970). Taking the evidence in the light most favorable to Hood, the Court cannot hold at this stage that he did not have su......
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