Superior Oil Company v. Trahan

• Citation: 322 F.2d 234
• Decision Date: 27 August 1963
• Docket Number: No. 20052.,20052.
• Parties: SUPERIOR OIL COMPANY, Appellant, v. Bufford TRAHAN, Appellee. Bufford TRAHAN, Appellant, v. SUPERIOR OIL COMPANY, Appellee.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

322 F.2d 234 (1963)

SUPERIOR OIL COMPANY, Appellant, v. Bufford TRAHAN, Appellee.

Bufford TRAHAN, Appellant, v. SUPERIOR OIL COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 20052.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

August 27, 1963.

George V. Baus, W. Ford Reese, New Orleans, La., J. J. Davidson, Jr., Lafayette, La., Adams & Reese, New Orleans, La., for Superior Oil Co., respondent-appellant.

Hugh E. Brunson, Crowley, La., Felicien P. Lozes, New Orleans, La., for Bufford Trahan, appellee.

Before HUTCHESON and GEWIN, Circuit Judges, and CONNALLY, District Judge.

GEWIN, Circuit Judge.

Bufford Trahan, the libellant, filed suit against his employer, Superior Oil Company, under the admiralty jurisdiction of the court, seeking damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained in an accident which occurred on March 31, 1959. Trahan brought suit claiming negligence under the Jones Act; alleging unseaworthiness; and seeking maintenance, cure and wages. Both parties appeal, and the questions involved relate to the proof of claimed liability as the result of alleged negligence; unseaworthiness of the vessel; a purported release of liability; and the quantum of damages awarded. The amount allowed for maintenance has been paid. This is a non-jury case.

Trahan, a seaman in the employ of Superior, was injured in passing from one of Superior's vessels on which he had been visiting, to another of Superior's vessels on which he worked. The two vessels, the Rambio and the Supco V, were tied up at an off-shore drilling rig belonging to Superior in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 10 miles from Cameron, Louisiana. Trahan worked on the Rambio and had been visiting on the Supco V. He alleged that Superior was negligent in not providing a safe means of passage from one vessel to the other, and that the Rambio was thereby rendered unseaworthy in the circumstances of this case. Superior's defense was that Trahan was on a private mission at the time, that his own negligence caused his injury, that the vessels were seaworthy, and that in any event, Trahan had executed a release which limited his recovery to amounts due and payable under Louisiana's Workmen's Compensation Laws.

Earlier in the afternoon on the day of the accident, Trahan and another member of the crew of the Rambio went aboard the Supco V at a time when the sea was moderate, running up to approximately 3 feet in height. Their transfer from one vessel to the other was by the simple expedient of waiting for the vessels to swing together and stepping or jumping from one to the other when the decks reached a level or near level position. They were to return in the same manner, which was the only method of transfer provided. When they returned however, the sea was heavier, "choppy", and the waves were 5 to 6 feet high. As Trahan was attempting to step from the top of the bulwark of the Supco V onto the Rambio, the latter was falling away or dropping, while at the same time the Supco V was rising. Due to the difference in the size and structure of the two vessels and the manner in which they were moored, the bow of the Supco V was located near the midship section of the Rambio. The 2 vessels pitched, but not in unison. While the Rambio was going down at the bow and up at the stern, the Supco V would go up at the bow and down at the stern. The top of the bulwark of the Supco V was about 5 inches in width, but the bulwark around the stern of the Rambio was only 1 inch in width, making it necessary for Trahan to jump or step over the bulwark to the deck outboard of the cockpit space, which was about 24 inches in width. In coming back to the Rambio, Trahan had to clear the open water, the bulwark or rail of the Rambio, and land on the deck space inboard of the bulwark, at the same time dropping a distance of from 2 to 3 feet in height. Trahan landed on the deck of the Rambio, fell to his knees, then tumbled over into the cockpit. His knees were injured and ultimately the patella or kneecap of each knee was surgically removed.

The District Court, after a full and complete trial of the issues involved, relied on Tate v. C. G. Willis, Inc., 154 F.Supp. 402 (1957, U.S.D.C. ED Va.), and other authorities, to the effect that:

"The duty to provide a seaworthy vessel encompassed the affording a seaman a reasonably safe means of boarding and departing from the vessel."

The trial court concluded:

"Here, the court finds that the vessels involved were unseaworthy; and further, in respect to libellant\'s right to recover under the Jones Act, we find actionable negligence by respondent." (Rogers v. Missouri Pacific R. R. Company, 352 U.S. 500, 77 S.Ct. 443, 1 L.Ed.2d 493; and Ferguson v. Moore-McCormack Lines, 352 U.S. 521, 77 S.Ct. 457, 1 L.Ed.2d 511).

See also Annotation 4 L.Ed.2d 1777; Benedict, the Law of American Admiralty (6th Ed.) Vol. 4, 1962 Supp. p. 57. Trahan was returning to the Rambio after having been aboard the Supco V pursuant to a custom and practice known and recognized by respondent's vessels engaged in offshore work. Both vessels were on a stand-by duty status. Trahan's visit was terminated when the Supco V received orders requiring her to leave the rig. The District Court found the respondent guilty of negligence " * * * and that such negligence consisted specifically in failing to provide a reasonably safe means of ingress and egress to and from its vessel." The Court concluded that the Captain of the vessel to which Trahan was returning, who was present on the vessel and watched Trahan boarding, could have done three things to minimize the apparent danger in coming aboard: (1) he could have slacked off the bow line, which would have synchronized the movements of the two vessels; (2) he could have passed a line between the boats; or (3) he could have offered a steadying hand to Trahan. Upon a close examination of the record, there being no reasonably safe means of ingress and egress, we agree that in the circumstances, the doing of one of the three things mentioned, all three of which were reasonable, would have lessened the danger attendant upon Trahan's making the transfer by the only means provided; and that the Captain's failure to so act proximately caused the injury.¹

The District Court also found that Trahan was an experienced seaman and should have been fully cognizant of the danger involved in making the transfer. Trahan contends that since he was using the only method available in making the transfer, he could not have been contributorily negligent. This would be the correct rule only if in so doing, he had exercised reasonable care in the circumstances. His failure to request help from the Captain, or to attempt in any other way to minimize his own danger, the District Court felt, was the greater cause of his injury. Accordingly under the comparative negligence rule, Superior was held liable for only 25 per cent of Trahan's damages. In Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406, 74 S.Ct. 202, 204, 98 L.Ed. 143, 151 (1952), the Supreme Court said:

"The harsh rule of the common law under which contributory negligence wholly barred an injured person from recovery is completely incompatible with modern admiralty policy and practice. Exercising its traditional discretion, admiralty has developed and now follows its own fairer and more flexible rule which allows such consideration of contributory negligence in mitigation of damages as justice requires."

We agree with the trial court's conclusion that Trahan, an experienced hand who had been at sea on board vessels of the type involved, was guilty of contributory negligence in jumping from the heaving deck of the Supco V to the Rambio without requesting help from the Captain or the other crew members, who were aboard the Rambio; or in failing to attempt in any other manner to minimize his own danger. In the circumstances, his judgment should...