Richards v. Relentless, Inc.

• Decision Date: 14 August 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-2337.,02-2337.
• Parties: Anthony W. RICHARDS, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. RELENTLESS, INC., Defendant, Appellee. Greg Bray, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

341 F.3d 35

Anthony W. RICHARDS, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. RELENTLESS, INC., Defendant, Appellee.

Greg Bray, Defendant.

No. 02-2337.

United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

Heard June 6, 2003.

Decided August 14, 2003.

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Merlyn P. O'Keefe with whom Packer & O'Keefe was on brief, for appellant.

J. Renn Olenn with whom Olenn & Penza, LLP was on brief, for appellee.

Before LYNCH, LIPEZ, and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff-appellant Anthony Richards was injured while working aboard the fishing vessel Relentless in 1998. Richards sued his employer, Relentless, Inc., alleging violations of the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C § 688 (2002), and the warranty of seaworthiness, and seeking recovery for maintenance and cure under general principles of maritime law. The jury found that Richards's recovery was precluded by a release of claims he signed shortly after his accident. In this appeal, Richards asks us to vacate the jury verdict in favor of Relentless on a variety of grounds. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

I.

Richards was working as a deck hand on the F/V Relentless in February 1998 when he stepped onto the deck one morning, slipped on squid tentacles, and fell. After the vessel returned to port later that month, Richards sought medical attention for his injury. He was examined by Dr. Robert Marchand, an orthopedic surgeon, and complained that he could not raise his leg and was experiencing "shooting pains" down that leg. Dr. Marchand performed a bone scan to rule out a fracture, and eventually diagnosed the injury as a hip contusion. Dr. Marchand prescribed pain medication and an anti-inflammatory, and on March 16, 1998, signed a "fit-for-duty" slip authorizing Richards to return to work on March 23, 1998. While Richards was out of work after his hip injury, the Relentless went out on two fishing trips.

On May 13, 1998, after Richards had returned to work on the Relentless, he signed a release waiving any claims against the Relentless and its insurers arising from the February injury in exchange for a settlement of $8,000, in addition to the maintenance and cure¹ he had already received. The terms of the release stated that Richards was settling "every right and claim [he] ha[d] for damages as well as for past, present and future maintenance, cure, and wages." Richards negotiated the amount of the settlement over a three-day period with Neil Stoddard, a claims adjuster representing Sunderland Marine Mutual Insurance Company, defendant's insurance carrier.

On February 7, 2001, Richards filed suit against Relentless and Greg Bray, who was the captain of the Relentless at the time of Richards's injury.² After discovery, the defendant moved to bifurcate the proceedings and first try its asserted affirmative defense — the validity of the release Richards signed — before reaching the personal injury claims. If the release Richards signed in May 1998 was deemed valid by the jury, he would be precluded from recovering against the defendant. Over Richards's objection, the court granted the motion for a bifurcated trial. After a three-day trial, the jury returned a verdict for the defendant, finding that the release was valid and enforceable. Because the jury found that the defendant had established its affirmative defense, there was no need to proceed to the second stage of the trial, and the court entered judgment in favor of the defendant.

Richards alleges five errors on appeal: (1) failure to award Richards judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50; (2) the magistrate judge's denial of Richards's motion to amend the complaint to add claims against Sunderland, the defendant's insurer; (3) the acceptance of the defendant's use of a peremptory strike against a Hispanic juror; (4) the district court's instructions to the jury on the legal standards applicable to a release of claims under the Jones Act; and (5) the district court's ruling that Richards's second doctor's testimony was irrelevant. We will address these arguments in turn.

II.

A. Rule 50 Motion

At the close of the defendant's presentation of evidence, Richards moved for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50.³ He renewed his motion after the close of his case. The court withheld its ruling until after the jury's verdict, and then denied the motion in a written opinion. The court noted that the defendant had presented evidence concerning the medical advice Richards had at the time he signed the release, the amount of income he lost during his period of recovery, and the amount of the settlement he received. The defendant also presented evidence on the content of the negotiations between Richards and Stoddard, and the explanation of rights Stoddard gave Richards before Richards signed the release. Given this evidence, the district court held that it could not "say that there was a legally insufficient evidentiary basis from which the jury could reasonably find in favor of the defendant." Richards v. Relentless Inc., No. 01-64ML, slip op. at 9 (D.R.I. Sept. 20, 2002).

We review the court's denial of the motion de novo. Espada v. Lugo, 312 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir.2002). Judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(a) is appropriate if "there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for [the non-moving] party." Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a). When reviewing the district court's denial of the motion, we examine the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party — here, the defendant — and do not "consider the credibility of witnesses, resolve conflicts in testimony, or evaluate the weight of the evidence." Katz v. City Metal Co., 87 F.3d 26, 28 (1st Cir.1996) (quoting Richmond Steel, Inc. v. Puerto Rican Am. Ins. Co., 954 F.2d 19, 22 (1st Cir.1992)). We affirm the denial of the motion unless "reasonable persons could not have reached the conclusion that the jury embraced." Negron-Rivera v. Rivera-Claudio, 204 F.3d 287, 290 (1st Cir.2000).

In cases involving seamen, the burden is on the defendant to show that a release of claims "was executed freely, without deception or coercion, and that it was made by the seaman with full understanding of his rights." Garrett v. Moore-McCormack Co., 317 U.S. 239, 248, 63 S.Ct. 246, 87 L.Ed. 239 (1942). In the Garrett case, the Supreme Court recognized that the relationship between a seaman and his employer was unlike the traditional employee-employer relationship. Seamen are "wards of admiralty," and their relationship with their employers is similar to the relationship between a beneficiary and fiduciary. Id. at 246, 63 S.Ct. 246. Necessarily, then,

[i]f there is any undue inequality in the terms, any disproportion in the bargain, any sacrifice of rights on one side, which are not compensated by extraordinary benefits on the other, the judicial interpretation of the transaction is that the bargain is unjust and unreasonable, that advantage has been taken of the situation of the weaker party, and that pro tanto the bargain ought to be set aside as inequitable.

Id. (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Therefore, releases signed by seaman "are subject to careful scrutiny. `One who claims that a seaman has signed away his rights to what in law is due him must be prepared to take the burden of sustaining the release as fairly made with and fully comprehended by the seaman.'" Id. at 248, 63 S.Ct. 246 (quoting Harmon v. United States, 59 F.2d 372, 373 (5th Cir.1932)). In order to satisfy this burden of showing the release is valid, the party seeking to enforce it must

show that it was executed freely, without deception or coercion, and that it was made by the seaman with full understanding of his rights. The adequacy of the consideration and the nature of the medical and legal advice available to the seaman at the time of signing the release are relevant to an appraisal of this understanding.

Id. at 248, 63 S.Ct. 246.

There are special concerns that arise when a seaman is signing a release without the benefit of counsel. In such a situation, there is a burden on the agent of the vessel owner or insurance carrier negotiating the release with the seaman to "bring home to the plaintiff an understanding of the rights he [is] giving up in exchange for the settlement offered." Bay State Dredging & Contracting Co. v. Porter, 153 F.2d 827, 833 (1st Cir.1946). More specifically:

At the very least [the seaman] should have been told that he had an unbeatable right of action under the maritime law for maintenance and cure, not dependent on proof of negligence; and that in addition he had, under the Jones Act, a right to maintain an action at law for damages for injuries resulting from the negligence of any of the officers or employees of the defendant.

Id. Therefore, in order to prove the validity of a release, the party seeking to enforce it must show that it gave the seaman a full explanation of his rights before he signed the release. The logic of such a rule is clear: "Otherwise, the [seaman] would necessarily not be in a position to make an intelligent decision as to whether the offer [of settlement in exchange for the release] should be accepted." Id.

Stoddard, working on behalf of Sunderland, Relentless's insurance agent, testified at trial that he negotiated the settlement with Richards over a three-day period. Stoddard first called Richards on May 11 with an offer of $6,000, which Richards rejected. Richards then called Stoddard the next day and they agreed to settle the claim for $8,000. Stoddard and Richards met at the Relentless offices on May 13 so that Richards could sign the release and receive his settlement check. Stoddard testified that before Richards signed the release, he explained the effect of the release and Richards's rights:

I said to him that just because we had prepared this document and because I had traveled to North Kingstown, Rhode Island,...