Tran v. Manitowoc Engineering Co.
| Decision Date | 08 August 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-3775,83-3775 |
| Parties | Thanh TRAN, Plaintiff, v. MANITOWOC ENGINEERING COMPANY, Defendant, and Manitowoc Coastal States Sales and Service Co., Inc., Defendant-Appellee, and TAULLI CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC., Defendant-Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellee, v. BECKER & ASSOCIATES, INC., Third-Party Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Henderson, Hanemann & Morris, Philip E. Henderson, Houma, La., for third party defendant-appellant.
Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, Stanhope B. Denegre, New Orleans, La., for Manitowoc Coastal States Sales, Etc.
Bienvenu, Foster, Ryan & O'Bannon, Leonard A. Young, John C. Tollefson, Ernest L. O'Bannon, New Orleans, La., for Taulli Const. Co.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Before JOHNSON and HILL, Circuit Judges and HINOJOSA, * District Judge.
This appeal arises out of a diversity jurisdiction personal injury action originally brought by Thanh Tran, a citizen of Vietnam. Tran was injured when he was struck by pilings that were being loaded by a crane onto a barge owned by his employer. Tran brought his action against the Appellees--Manitowoc Coastal Sales (Defendant/Third-Party Plaintiff below, hereinafter Manitowoc), a crane dealer that had performed repairs on the crane involved in the accident, and Taulli Construction Co., Inc. (Defendant/Third Party Plaintiff below, hereinafter Taulli), the company which had rented the crane to Tran's employer. 1 Manitowoc and Taulli filed third party claims against Tran's employer, Appellant Becker & Associates, Inc. (Intervenor/Third Party Defendant below, hereinafter Becker), seeking contribution. Taulli also sought relief against Becker based on contractual indemnity. Becker intervened in the action, seeking reimbursement of compensation payments made to Tran.
Becker appeals the trial court's judgment awarding contribution to both Manitowoc and Taulli and indemnity in favor of Taulli. Becker claims that the contribution award is barred by the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. Sec. 901 et seq. (hereinafter LHWCA), and that the contract between it and Taulli did not require indemnification.
At its yard in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, Becker manufactured large steel pilings to be used in maritime construction. Becker's yard was adjacent to the Intracoastal Canal and had its own dock. Pilings were loaded by crane by stevedores employed by Becker onto a Becker barge for transport to a construction site.
On April 9, 1981, Thanh Tran, a Becker employee, was working on the load-out crew. The load-out crew's job was to load heavy steel pilings (3 feet by 140 feet) from Becker's dock onto its barge. Tran was positioned inside the barge and it was his job to place wooden chocks under each piling as it reached the deck. Approximately three pilings were loaded without incident. While the next piling was suspended by the crane over the barge, the crane boom "ran" (i.e., it dropped out of control). The piling struck the barge's deck and pinned Tran's leg against another piling, causing severe injury.
The district court found that Tran was injured as a result of the malfunction of the crane. Taulli owned the crane and had leased it to Becker eight months prior to the accident. Appellee Manitowoc was a crane dealer that had performed a conversion and repairs on the crane.
Tran's claims against Manitowoc and Taulli were tried to a jury. The jury found for Tran and awarded him $349,714.49. By agreement of the parties, the claims of Manitowoc and Taulli against Becker were reserved for the court. In ruling on the contribution and indemnity claims of Manitowoc and Taulli, the district court adopted the jury's finding that Tran's injuries were caused 70% by Becker's negligence, 20% by Manitowoc's negligence and 10% by Taulli's negligence. On appeal there is no dispute on this apportionment of fault between Becker, Manitowoc, and Taulli; rather, the nature of Becker's negligence is in issue with respect to the court's ruling on the contribution claims.
The district court found Becker negligent in the following four particulars:
(1) Becker directed Thanh Tran, a non-English speaking employee to engage in dangerous loading activities on the barge requiring constant communication between co-workers when it knew or should have known that he could not speak English and it provided no interpreters. Tran could not be properly supervised, trained, advised as to safety procedures, or warned to the various dangers which arose during the course of his daily operations. (2) Despite the actual knowledge of its employees that the crane boom tended to "run", that is descend suddenly without control, when heavily loaded and that the crane tended to tip when heavily loaded, Becker took no precautions to prevent these conditions, which were a cause in fact of the accident. (3) The testimony and evidence showed that Becker failed to properly inspect and maintain the crane, allowing an air leak in the boom hoist control line to go undetected and unrepaired. There was expert testimony which showed that this may have been the cause of the crane "running." (4) Becker was negligent in allowing an operator with a seriously injured hand to operate the crane on the date of loss, an activity which all concede requires significant dexterity and manual strength. There was evidence that this injury hampered the operator's ability to employ the boom brake and emergency braking system of the crane.
In its findings of fact, the district court did not attempt to distinguish between Becker's negligence as owner of the barge and its stevedoring negligence. The district court granted the claims of Manitowoc and Taulli for contribution from Becker to the full extent of Becker's 70% fault.
Taulli's claim for contractual indemnity was based on the following clause found in the contract in which Becker rented the crane from Taulli:
LIABILITY OF LESSEE: The lessee [Becker] shall indemnify lessor [Taulli] against all loss, damage, expense and penalty arising from any action on account of personal injury or damage to property occasioned by the operation handling or transportation of any equipment during the rental period. Lessee shall carry insurance satisfactory to Lessor, providing this protection.
The district court found, and the parties do not dispute, that this provision was not broad enough to require Becker to indemnify Taulli for Taulli's own negligence. Becker does contest the court's ruling that this clause required Becker to indemnify Taulli for Becker's negligence.
Becker disputes the district court's judgment granting contribution in favor of Manitowoc and Taulli with basically two arguments. First, Becker contends that claims for contribution from a stevedore employer are completely barred by the LHWCA even if its negligence had been as owner of the vessel. Alternatively, Becker asserts that even if it could be liable to third parties for its negligence as a vessel owner, the only negligence involved in this action was stevedoring negligence for which the LHWCA provides immunity.
The LHWCA requires employer stevedores to pay compensation to injured workers. Compensation is the employee's exclusive remedy against his stevedore employer. 33 U.S.C. Sec. 905(a). 2 The employee does have a right, however, to bring an action against a vessel owner for damages caused by the owner's negligence. Section 905(b) of the LHWCA provides:
In the event of injury to a person covered under this chapter caused by the negligence of a vessel, then such person, or anyone otherwise entitled to recover damages by reason thereof, may bring an action against such vessel as a third party in accordance with the provisions of section 933 of this title, and the employer shall not be liable to the vessel for such damages directly or indirectly and any agreements or warranties to the contrary shall be void. If such person was employed by the vessel to provide stevedoring services, no such action shall be permitted if the injury was caused by the negligence of persons engaged in providing stevedoring services to the vessel. If such person was employed by the vessel to provide ship building or repair services, no such action shall be permitted if the injury was caused by the negligence of persons engaged in providing ship building or repair services to the vessel. The liability of the vessel under this subsection shall not be based upon the warranty of seaworthiness or a breach thereof at the time the injury occurred. The remedy provided in this subsection shall be exclusive of all other remedies against the vessel except remedies available under this chapter.
33 U.S.C. Sec. 905(b). If the vessel owner and the stevedore employer are the same entity, as is the situation in the instant case with Becker being both owner of the barge and stevedore employer, the injured employee may still bring an action to recover damages--but only for vessel owner negligence, not for stevedoring negligence. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer, 462 U.S. 523, 103 S.Ct. 2541, 2547 n. 6, 76 L.Ed.2d 768 (1983); see also Smith v. M/V Captain Fred, 546 F.2d 119 (5th Cir.1977). The statute is silent on whether a third party may seek contribution from a vessel owner/stevedore employer for vessel owner negligence, and we have been unable to find a Fifth Circuit opinion deciding this issue. Thus, if the Plaintiff Tran had brought an action against Becker, it is clear under the LHWCA that he could have recovered damages from Becker for any vessel owner negligence. But it is not clear from the face of the statute whether Manitowoc and Taulli may be granted contribution from Becker based on the same vessel owner negligence.
Becker points out that compensation to the...
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