Penedo Cia Naviera SA v. Maniatis
| Decision Date | 05 January 1959 |
| Docket Number | No. 7716.,7716. |
| Citation | 262 F.2d 284 |
| Parties | PENEDO CIA NAVIERA S.A., claimant respondent, Appellant, v. Nicholas MANIATIS, libellant, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
John W. Winston, Norfolk, Va. (Seawell, Johnston, McCoy & Winston, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellant.
Sidney H. Kelsey, Norfolk, Va. (L. David Lindauer and Babalas & Breit, Norfolk, Va., on brief), for appellee.
Before SOPER, Circuit Judge, and BARKSDALE and BRYAN, District Judges.
Nicholas Maniatis, a Greek citizen employed as a seaman by Penedo Cia Naviera S.A., on the Liberian Steamship Archipelago, filed a libel against the ship and the owner for injuries received in the course of his employment, which resulted in the loss of the tip of his right ring finger. He alleged that the injury was caused by the negligence of the officers and members of the crew of the vessel and the unseaworthiness of the vessel, and claimed damages as well as maintenance and cure. After a hearing the District Judge entered a decree in his favor for $3,857, which included $3,500 for damages for his injury and wages, $337 for maintenance and cure, and $20 for medicine. On this appeal it is contended that the judgment was wrong on the ground that the libellant was not entitled to any recovery for damages and that even if damages were properly awarded, he could not recover both wages and maintenance for the same period of time. The pertinent facts may be summarized as follows:
While the vessel was enroute from Rotterdam to Hampton Roads at Norfolk, Virginia, the crew had painted various cargo booms as they lay in cradles in horizontal positions. That part of the booms which rested in the cradles could not be reached for painting without raising the booms and this could not be done until the vessel reached port. At that time the remaining portions of the booms were painted by lifting them up a short distance out of the cradles, holding them suspended long enough for the painting and then raising them up all the way in preparation for the loading of cargo.
The accident happened when the libellant was endeavoring to paint the underside of the starboard boom at No. 2 hatch. In order to raise the boom a wire, called a topping lift fall, is shackled to the far end of the boom. This wire extends to the top of the mast to which the boom is secured and passes through blocks on the mast to a cargo winch on the deck below. On the end of the winch is a round steel drum which turns when the winch is operated and is used in raising and lowering booms. The center of the drum is lower than the edges and is so built as to force the turns of the rope on the drum to slide away from the edges toward the middle thereof. In this way the turns of the wire loop are prevented from going off the edge of the drum as they build up on the sides.
When it is desired to lift the boom, several turns of the wire around the drum are made by a seaman, who then holds the wire taut, while another seaman operates the winch. As the winch turns the wire falls off the drum and is coiled on the deck by the seaman holding it. When the boom is raised to its full height a chain stopper is used to take the weight off the winch and the wire fall is then secured to a cleat on the mast.
On the morning of the accident the libellant and other seamen were engaged in the work of raising the cargo booms so that the hatches might be opened and the loading of the cargo begun. When the crew reached the starboard boom of the No. 2 hatch the libellant went on the bridge deck to paint the underside of the boom. One sailor operated the winch and another handled the wire fall. The latter took three or four turns of the wire around the drum and then held it tight as it began to take the strain of the weight off the boom. Shortly thereafter the accident happened in the following manner, quoting from the opinion of the District Judge 159 F.Supp. 248:
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