Porter v. Eckert

• Decision Date: 22 August 1972
• Docket Number: No. 72-1345 Summary Calendar.,72-1345 Summary Calendar.
• Parties: Marjorie A. PORTER, as personal representative of the Estate of John James Porter, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J. Presper ECKERT, Defendant-Appellee, Lauderdale Cruisair, Inc., Defendant-Appellant, Marine Development Corporation, Defendant-Appellant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

465 F.2d 1307 (1972)

Marjorie A. PORTER, as personal representative of the Estate of John James Porter, Deceased, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J. Presper ECKERT, Defendant-Appellee, Lauderdale Cruisair, Inc., Defendant-Appellant, Marine Development Corporation, Defendant-Appellant-Appellee.

No. 72-1345 Summary Calendar.^*

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

August 22, 1972.

Fred C. Davant, Miami, Fla., for Marine Development.

Robert D. McIntosh, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for Lauderdale Cruisair.

Quinton, Lieb & Aurell, Paul C. Huck, Miami, Fla., for Porter.

Walsh, Dolan & Krupnick, Gerald M. Walsh, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for Eckert.

Before THORNBERRY, COLEMAN and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges.

INGRAHAM, Circuit Judge:

This Jones Act action was brought by Marjorie A. Porter (Mrs. Porter) as personal representative of the estate of her deceased husband, John James Porter, against various defendants. Mrs. Porter sued J. Presper Eckert as the owner of the vessel on which her husband was employed at the time of his death, Lauderdale Cruisair, Inc., the installer of the air conditioning unit which caused the electrocution of her husband, and Marine Development Corporation (MDC), the manufacturer of the unit. Mrs. Porter's suit was based on the unseaworthiness of the vessel, negligence and breach of warranty in the manufacture and installation of the defective air conditioning unit. By the time of trial all of the defendants had filed cross claims for indemnity against each other. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Mrs. Porter against all defendants, but found in favor of Eckert and Lauderdale Cruisair on their respective cross claims for indemnity against MDC. MDC then moved, pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. 49(b), for the entry of a judgment consistent with the jury's answer to the interrogatories. This motion was granted. The district court vacated Lauderdale Cruisair's judgment against MDC and entered a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Lauderdale Cruisair appeals this decision. MDC appeals the judgments of Mrs. Porter and Eckert which were rendered against it. We affirm.

The deceased, John James Porter, was employed as a seaman on the vessel "Miss Laura" owned by Eckert. He was electrocuted when he came into contact with an electrically "hot" air conditioning unit located on the vessel. As a result of defective insulation in the sealed compressor within the unit, there was an electrical leakage which caused the exterior of the unit to be "hot". When Lauderdale Cruisair installed the unit, it failed to ground the unit by a connecting wire to the main ground of the vessel, and this is the omission on which its liability is based.

The thrust of MDC's assertions on appeal go to the sufficiency of the evidence. MDC moved for a directed verdict at the close of Mrs. Porter's case. The court denied this motion with reference to the breach of warranty allegations, and MDC then proceeded to offer evidence in its own behalf. However, MDC did not move for a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence, nor did it move for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We stated in Stockton v. Altman, 432 F.2d 946, 950 (5th Cir., 1970), that:

"It is well settled, as we held in Delchamps, Inc. v. Borkin, 5th Cir. 1970, 429 F.2d 417, that in the absence of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict made at trial, this Court cannot examine the evidence for sufficiency."

See generally 5 A. J. Moore, Federal Practice ¶ 50.05 at 2341 and ¶ 50.12, at 2365 (2nd Ed. 1971). MDC's reliance on Traders & General Ins. Co. v. Mallitz, 315 F.2d 171 (5th Cir., 1963), as an exception to this rule is misplaced because there the judgment was entered on special verdicts, while in the case at hand the judgment was based on general verdicts. MDC's attempt to characterize the verdict here as special is a mistake. Compare F.R.C.P. 49(a) with 49(b).¹

To avoid resting our decision solely on this procedural basis, we have examined the record and concluded that there was ample evidence from which reasonable men (and women) could conclude that the unit was defective when it left the manufacturer's plant and that this defect was a proximate cause of the deceased's death.²

The standard used for testing the sufficiency of the evidence is from Boeing Company v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 370 (5th Cir., 1969), and is a somewhat higher standard than that used in FELA and Jones Act cases. See Planters Mfg. Co. v. Protection Mut. Ins. Co., 380 F.2d 869 (5th Cir., 1967). To satisfy the Planters standard there would have to be "a complete absence of probative facts to support" the jury's conclusion. That has certainly not been shown in the instant case, and thus regardless of which standard is used there was sufficient evidence to take the case to the jury.

MDC also asserts that since the jury found the "Miss Laura" unseaworthy, its owner, J. Presper Eckert, cannot recover against it on his cross claim for indemnity. The trial court, at the close of all the evidence, granted Eckert's motion to dismiss Mrs. Porter's negligence claim against him. Thus, even though the vessel was found to be unseaworthy, Eckert's liability flowing from this finding is a liability without fault and is not a result of his negligence. The trial court, therefore, properly entered judgment for Eckert on his indemnity claim. See Tri-State Oil Tool Industries, Inc. v. Delta Marine Drilling Co., 410 F.2d 178, 186 (5th Cir., 1969), and Hussein v. Isthmian Lines, Inc., 405 F.2d...