Wilder v. Placid Oil Co.

Decision Date20 June 1985
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 83-1790,83-1915.
PartiesJames Michael WILDER v. PLACID OIL COMPANY. Richard SANDERS v. PLACID OIL COMPANY.
CourtU.S. District Court — Western District of Louisiana

Wilbert J. Saucier, Jr., Pineville, La., for James Michael Wilder.

Gravel & Brady, James J. Brady, Alexandria, La., for Richard Sanders.

Abbott, Webb, Best & Meeks, John P. Napolitano, Laurence E. Best, New Orleans, La., for Placid Oil Co. in No. 83-1790.

Herbert & Abbott, Laurence E. Best, New Orleans, La., for Placid Oil Co. in No. 83-1915.

RULING

LITTLE, District Judge.

The issue pending before this Court is whether Catahoula Lake, a low lying portion of the Little River in the State of Louisiana, is navigable for purposes of admiralty jurisdiction. The matter has been briefed by the parties and presented by way of cross-motions for summary judgment. Having previously denied defendant's motion in a Ruling dated 5 June 1985, and having further received the benefit of defendant's profert in curia on this point and the full trial hearing of this matter, the Court hereby grants plaintiffs' motion and assigns the following reasons.

FACTS

These consolidated actions were instituted by Richard Sanders and James Michael Wilder against Placid Oil Company to recover damages for personal injuries and property loss allegedly sustained when Wilder's 15-foot outboard aluminum boat, in which both complainants were riding, struck a steel well-head casing pipe allegedly owned and maintained by Placid. According to the plaintiffs' pleadings, the pipe was submerged and was not marked. The actions were originally brought pursuant to the admiralty maritime jurisdiction of the Court, 28 U.S.C. § 1333 and designated under Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(h). Both plaintiffs subsequently filed amended complaints alleging diversity of citizenship pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 as an alternative basis of jurisdiction.

The uncontroverted material submitted by the parties indicates that the Little River is formed by the meeting of the Dudgdemona River and Bayou Castor just to the northeast of Rochelle, Louisiana. It flows in a more or less southerly direction into the lowlands which become Catahoula Lake in high water. From Catahoula Lake the water is discharged through several tributaries and distributaries until the tributaries finally rejoin into one channel at Archie, Louisiana. One such distributary is a diversion canal built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and completed in May of 1972. This canal has a permanent dam structure across it which forecloses navigation except during flood stages. At Archie, the Corps has fabricated a weir across the span of the Little River. The weir, completed in June of 1973, is constructed out of concrete and crests at an elevation of 36 feet above sea level or 36 NGVD (National Geodetic Vertical Data). This keeps the water level at 36 NGVD from the outflow of the lake up to the structure itself. The water level of the lake is controlled by movable gates in the permanent dam in the diversion canal. Thus, when the water level of the Little River is higher than 36 NGVD, vessels may pass over the weir. The weir, while permanent, is not a total obstruction to navigation.

From Archie, Louisiana the water flows easterly to Jonesville and Trinity, Louisiana, where it joins the Ouachita and Tensas Rivers to form the Black River. The Black then runs into the Red River which in turn runs into either the Atchafalaya River, from which one may enter the Gulf Intracoastal Canal or the Lower Old River, which allows passage into the Mississippi River. A steady, if not substantial barge trade is conducted on the Atchafalaya, Black and Red Rivers, while the Mississippi River is a major maritime commercial artery. Accordingly, these waters form a continuous highway between states over which commerce may be conducted.

In 1887, the Little River was navigated by steamboat from White Sulphur Springs, Louisiana above Catahoula Lake, to its end at Jonesville, Louisiana. 1887 Ann. Rep. of the Chief of Engineers, Part II at 1499. The business on the river consisted of logging, fur trading and transportation of bales of cotton. Id.

The Little River, including Catahoula Lake, is a navigable waterway of the United States for the purposes of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. § 401 et. seq. In 1932, the Corps listed the Little River as being navigable from its mouth at Jonesville to mile 82.8 at the Missouri-Pacific Railroad bridge. Currently the Corps limits its jurisdiction to mile 55.

By affidavit, Thomas William Coon testified that he piloted the MISS FLORENCE, a self-propelled barge measuring approximately 35 × 110 feet with a draft of 3 feet when empty, throughout Catahoula Lake from 1966 to 1979, and that on one occasion he piloted this vessel from Catahoula Lake through the system of waters described above to Orange, Texas. He also testified that he has been a passenger on crew boats as large as 40 feet in length which have passed into the Black River system from Catahoula Lake navigating over the weir at Archie, Louisiana, on several occasions.

Julian Wesley Thompson, age 46, has lived close to Catahoula Lake all his life. From 1957 through 1970 he operated the MISS FLORENCE and another self-propelled barge known as Barge No. 259 on the Little River and in Catahoula Lake. Barge No. 259 is approximately 40 × 200 feet. He personally piloted the MISS FLORENCE from Buffalo Bayou in the State of Mississippi to Catahoula Lake. He has also personally witnessed the passing of 40-foot crew boats over the weir at Archie, Louisiana. The last such crossing he witnessed was in May of 1985.

Vernie A. Gibson, born in 1914, is a life-long resident of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana and has spent those years in close proximity to Catahoula Lake. He has worked portions of Catahoula Lake, Little River, Old River, Black River, Ouachita River, Atchafalaya River and the Mississippi River as a commercial fisherman and fur trapper since 1933. He remembers the days of steamboat traffic from the Lake to the Black River. He has personally navigated vessels of 5½ to 6 foot drafts over the weir at Archie, Louisiana, and has done so as recently as 1982.

For many years, including 1984 and 1985, Placid has operated crew boats, work boats, self-propelled barges and drilling barges on the Little River and in Catahoula Lake. The record is replete with photographs as recent as 1984 of those vessels in active navigation.

Navigation in Catahoula Lake and on Little River occurs all year round. Navigation over the weir is seasonal.

Historically (1933 to 1967), the water level of the river has been above 36 NGVD from January through July with occasional instances in August, November and December. The highest level recorded was 59.41 NGVD on May 16, 1973. The lowest level was 20.89 NGVD on October 23, 1976. According to the record, navigation over the weir was possible during January-June of 1984; January-July and December of 1983; June and December of 1982; June of 1981; March-June of 1980; January-July of 1979; April-June of 1978; and March-May of 1977-1981 and 1982 were drought years. Plaintiffs were injured in January of 1983. Navigation over the weir was possible at that time.

LAW

Admiralty and maritime jurisdiction extends to all navigable waters within the United States. 28 U.S.C. § 1333; 46 U.S.C. § 740; see e.g., Southern S.S. Co. v. N.L. R.B., 316 U.S. 31, 41, 62 S.Ct. 886, 891-92, 86 L.Ed. 1246, 1256 (1942). Plaintiffs contend that because the Corps finds Little River a navigable water of the United States under the Rivers and Harbors Act, it is also a navigable water of the United States for purposes of admiralty jurisdiction.

"In Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U.S. 164, 100 S.Ct. 383, 62 L.Ed.2d 332 (1979), the Supreme Court indicated that the term `navigability', as used in past Supreme Court decisions has been used to define four separate and distinct concepts: to delineate the boundaries of navigational servitudes; to define the scope of Congress' regulatory authority under the Interstate Commerce Clause; to determine the extent of authority of the Army Corps of Engineers under the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899; and, to establish the limits of the jurisdiction of the federal courts conferred by Article 111, Section 2 of the United States Constitution over admiralty and maritime cases." Finneseth v. Carter, 712 F.2d 1041, 1043 (6th Cir.1983); Kaiser Aetna v. United States, 444 U.S. at 171-72, 100 S.Ct. at 388, 62 L.Ed.2d at 340-41. Thus, the fact that the Little River is a navigable water for the purposes of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. § 401, et. seq., is not dispositive in this case since the requirement of navigability under that Act and navigability for admiralty jurisdiction are not the same. Finneseth, 712 F.2d at 1043 n. 1; see discussion in Kaiser-Aetna, supra.

In Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, 409 U.S. 249, 93 S.Ct. 493, 34 L.Ed.2d 454 (1972), the Supreme Court set forth the test for admiralty tort jurisdiction. Admiralty tort jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333(1) and 46 U.S.C. § 740 exists if: (1) the alleged wrongful injury occurred upon navigable waters, and (2) the alleged acts or omissions of the defendant significantly relates to traditional maritime activity. Id. Accord, Foremost Ins. Co. v. Richardson, 457 U.S. 668, 673, 102 S.Ct. 2654, 2658, 73 L.Ed.2d 300, 305 (1982).

In Foremost, the Supreme Court held that the collision of two pleasure boats on navigable waters falls within admiralty jurisdiction. 457 U.S. at 674 and 676, 102 S.Ct. 2654, 73 L.Ed.2d at 306 and 307. The Court rejected a requirement that the wrong had to involve maritime commerce in order for it to have a significant connection with traditional maritime activities. Id. Instead, the Court emphasized the navigational aspect of the Executive Jet test....

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