Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/298/110/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 02:35:00+00:00

Document:
1. The provisions of the Jones Act allowing seamen a common law form of remedy for injuries in which "all statutes of the United States modifying or extending the common law right or remedy in case of personal injury to railway employees shall apply," and granting like remedies to the personal representatives of seamen when injuries result in death, became integral parts of the maritime law and are to be construed liberally and in harmony with the principles of that law as they were before the enactment. P. 298 U. S. 118.
had a cause of action for indemnity against the ship or owner, to which assumption of risk was not a defense. P. 298 U. S. 110.
3. Construing the Jones Act in harmony with this principle, assumption of risk is not a defense to an action brought under that Act for the death of a seaman caused by the negligence of the master in providing a defective appliance. From the failure of the Employers' Liability Act to abolish this defense in cases of injury or death of railway employees not caused by violations of the Safety Appliance Act there cannot be inferred an intention in the Jones Act to introduce the defense into the maritime law. P. 298 U. S. 123.
183 Wash. 467, 49 P.2d 3, affirmed.
Certiorari, 297 U.S. 701, to review the affirmance of a judgment recovered by the administratrix of the estate of a deceased seaman in an action for wrongful death attributed to a defective appliance for stopping a winch used for hauling in fish nets aboard ship.
In this case, certiorari was granted, because of the importance of the question, to review a determination of the Supreme Court of the Washington, 183 Wash. 467, 49 P.2d 3, that assumption of risk is not a defense to an action brought under the Jones Act, 41 Stat. 1007, 46 U.S.C. § 688, to recover damages for the injury and death of a seaman caused by a defective appliance, a part of the equipment of a fishing vessel on which he was employed.
hold the line taut, so that the winch would haul it in, and to coil the line as it came off the drum. When the rings at the bottom of the net through which the purse line passes came to the surface of the water, a bridle, or strap, was passed around the net and rings and attached to block and tackle suspended from a boom of the vessel. The purse line is then customarily thrown off the drums, and the net is raised higher by taking several turns about the forward drum with the line from the block and tackle, which then carries a load of about a ton and a half, and hauling on it. It was at this stage of the operation that decedent was injured. The purse line had been removed from the forward drum, and several turns of the line from the block and tackle, which was supporting the net, had been taken around this drum, when, in some way which does not clearly appear, the decedent's leg became entangled in the purse line, which was not clear of the aft drum. Before the winch could be stopped, his leg was drawn onto the drum by the purse line, the bones were broken and the flesh lacerated. Septicemia ensued, from which he died.
or disengaging while the winch was in motion. When placed in position, this brace extended from a cleat on the frame of the winch to the winch lever.
It is respondent's contention that the clutch was so defective, through long wear, that it would not remain engaged without the use of the brace to hold it in position; that the presence of the brace in position at the moment of the accident so prevented or delayed use of the lever at the winch that it was necessary to use the lever below deck to disengage the clutch on the main shaft in order to stop the winch, and that the consequent delay, after the alarm was given, was the proximate cause of decedent's injury.
The trial court refused petitioners' request to charge that voluntary assumption by decedent of the risk of injury by the unsafe appliance was a defense to the action, and denied their motion for a nonsuit and for a directed verdict. It left it to the jury to say whether petitioners had negligently failed to provide decedent with a safe appliance with which to work, and whether such failure was the proximate cause of the injury and death. The state Supreme Court sustained the judgment of the trial court upon a verdict for respondent, holding that, in the circumstances disclosed by the evidence, assumption of risk is not a defense in a suit under the Jones Act.
held in position by the brace; that the use of the brace to prevent the worn clutch from slipping or disengaging rendered the winch defective, and unsafe to those required to work in its vicinity, and that the use of the brace, and the consequent delay in stopping the winch from the engine room when the alarm was given, was the proximate cause of the injury and death. We do not discuss other questions of lesser moment, including those growing out of the alleged negligent failure of petitioners to provide decedent with prompt and appropriate medical attention as a contributing cause of his death, but direct our attention to the question brought here for review, whether assumption of risk is a defense to suits under the Jones Act.
Since the maritime law allowed no recovery for the wrongful death of a seaman, see Lindgren v. United States, 281 U. S. 38, respondent's asserted right of action is conferred by § 33 of the Jones Act, 41 Stat. 1007, 46 U.S.C. § 688, which gives to a seaman injured in the course of his employment, at his election, a right of action for damages at law, with trial by jury, in which "all statutes of the United States modifying or extending the common law right or remedy in cases of personal injury to railway employees shall apply." In case of the death of the seaman as a result of the injury, it similarly gives a right of action to his personal representatives in which "all statutes of the United States conferring or regulating the right of action for death in the case of railway employees shall be applicable."
insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its . . . appliances, machinery . . . or other equipment."
"to have assumed the risks of his employment in any case where the violation by such common carrier of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee."
The Jones Act thus brings into the maritime law new rules of liability. The source from which these rules are drawn defines them, but prescribes nothing as to their operation in the field to which they are transferred. "In that field, their strength and operation come altogether from their inclusion in the maritime law" by virtue of the Jones Act. The election for which it provides "is between alternatives accorded by the maritime law as modified, and not between that law and some nonmaritime system." Panama Railroad Co. v. Johnson, 264 U. S. 375, 264 U. S. 388-389, and see Chelentis v. Luckenbach S.S. Co., 247 U. S. 372, 247 U. S. 380-381; Pacific S.S. Co. v. Peterson, 278 U. S. 130.
of risk, shall not be available in specified cases led to the conclusion that such defenses, when not excluded by the terms of the statute, are impliedly authorized.
But the Jones Act does not, by its own terms or by those adopted by reference from the Employers' Liability Act, prescribe that assumption of risk shall be a defense to the liability imposed for injuries to seamen on navigable waters, or, apart from the specific references to the fellow servant and contributory negligence rules, purport to enlarge or modify the defenses available in maritime law to suits brought to recover for such injuries. In the absence of such a definite command, the scope of the new rules of liability and the nature of the defenses to them must be ascertained by reference to their new setting in the admiralty system.
Carlisle Packing Co. v. Sandanger, 259 U. S. 255, 259 U. S. 259; Pacific Steamship Co. v. Peterson, supra, 278 U. S. 134; Lindgren v. United States, supra.
In declaring in The Osceola, without qualification as to the assumption of risk, that the owner and vessel were liable to indemnify seamen for injuries caused by unseaworthiness of the vessel, and that unseaworthiness embraced defective appliances appurtenant to the ship, this Court adopted the pronouncements of many earlier cases in admiralty in which the rule was applied or recognized. [Footnote 2] It was definitely applied by this Court in Carlisle Packing Co. v. Sandanger, supra; cf. Plamals v. S.S. Pinar Del Rio, 277 U. S. 151, 277 U. S. 155.
Before the Jones Act, contributory negligence was ground for mitigation of damages in suits brought by seamen to recover for injuries attributable to defective equipment. See The Wanderer, 20 F. 140; Olson v. Flavel, 34 F. 477, overruling Peterson v. The Chandos, 4 F. 645; The Frank and Willie, 45 F. 494; The Julia Fowler, 49 F. 277; John A. Roebling's Sons Co. v. Erickson, 261 F. 986, 987; Cricket S.S. Co. v. Parry, 263 F. 523; Storgard v. France & Canada S.S. Corp., 263 F. 545; Panama R. Co. v. Johnson, 289 F. 964, aff'd, 264 U. S. 264 U.S. 375. But no American case appears to have recognized assumption of risk as a defense to such a suit. In numerous cases, this defense was either denied or ignored in circumstances plainly calling for its application had it been available. Halverson v. Nisen, 3 Sawy. 562; The Edith Godden, 23 F. 43; The Julia Fowler, supra; The Noddleburn, 28 F. 855; Olson v. Flavel, supra; The A. Heaton, 43 F. 592; Lafourche Packet Co. v. Henderson, 94 F. 871; Globe S.S. Co. v. Moss, 245 F. 54; The Colusa, 248 F. 21; Cricket S.S. Co. v. Parry, supra.
defective appliances make such a defense, as distinguished from contributory negligence, see Seaboard Air Line Ry. v. Horton, supra, 233 U. S. 503, peculiarly inapplicable to suits by seamen to recover for the negligent failure to provide a seaworthy ship and safe appliances. See The Colusa, supra, 24-25; Cricket S.S. Co. v. Parry, supra, 523, 526; Grimberg v. Admiral Oriental S.S. Line, 300 F. 619, 621; United States Shipping Board E.F. Corp. v. O'Shea, 55 App.D.C. 300, 5 F.2d 123, 125; States S.S. Co. v. Berglann, 41 F.2d 456, 457.
In The Osceola, 189 U. S. 158, the Court did not answer the certified question whether the master is a fellow servant, since it concluded that, in any event, the owners were not liable generally for injuries resulting from negligence unless they were occasioned by unseaworthiness or defect in appliances appurtenant to the ship.
"that the owner of the ship and the master, and every agent charged with the loading of the ship or the preparing thereof for sea or the sending thereof to sea shall use all reasonable means to insure the seaworthiness of the ship for the voyage at the time when the voyage commences and to keep her in a seaworthy condition for the voyage during the same."
See Hedley v. Pinkney & Sons S.S. Co.,  A.C. 222, strictly construing this statute.
Denying the defense: Grimberg v. Admiral Oriental S.S. Line, 300 F. 619; United States Shipping Board E.F. Corp. v. O'Shea, 55 App.D.C. 300, 5 F.2d 123; Coast S.S. Co. v. Brady, 8 F.2d 16; Zinnel v. United States Shipping Board E.F. Corp., 10 F.2d 47; Howarth v. United States Shipping Board E.F. Corp., 24 F.2d 374; Masjulis v. United States Shipping Board E.F. Corp., 31 F.2d 284; States S.S. Co. v. Berglann, 41 F.2d 456; United States v. Boykin, 49 F.2d 762; Ives v. United States, 58 F.2d 201; Pittsburgh S.S. Co. v. Palo, 64 F.2d 198; Hanson v. Luckenbach S.S. Co., 65 F.2d 457; The New Berne, 80 F.2d 244. Contra: The Ipswich, 46 F.2d 136; Stevens v. R. O'Brien Co., 62 F.2d 632.

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