Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/355/426
Timestamp: 2019-09-17 08:39:57
Document Index: 441182435

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 183', '§ 4281', '§ 181', '§ 1', '§ 51', '§ 157', '§ 51', '§ 53', '§ 688', '§ 51', '§ 80', '§ 157', '§ 1', '§ 22', '§ 1', '§ 51', '§ 7', '§ 13', '§ 4', '§ 54', '§ 3', '§ 53', '§ 157', '§ 51', '§ 688', '§ 761', '§ 1', '§ 22', '§ 157', '§ 157', '§ 191', '§ 192', '§ 201', '§ 158', '§ 157', '§ 158', '§ 3', '§ 53', '§ 4', '§ 54']

William J. KERNAN, Administrator of the Estate of Arthur E. Milan, Deceased, Petitioner, v. AMERICAN DREDGING COMPANY, as Owner of THE Tug ARTHUR N. HERRON, In the Matter of the Petition for Exoneration From or Limitation of Liability. | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute
355 U.S. 426 (78 S.Ct. 394, 2 L.Ed.2d 382)
Argued: Nov. 21, 1957.
dissent, HARLAN, FRANKFURTER, BURTON, WHITTAKER [HTML]
In this limitation proceeding brought by the respondent under §§ 183—186 of the Limited Liability Act, R.S. §§ 4281—4289, as amended, 46 U.S.C. 181—196, 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 181—196, the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied the petitioner's claim for damages filed on behalf of the widow and other dependents of a seaman who lost his life on respondent's tug in a fire caused by the violation of a navigation rule. 141 F.Supp. 582. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed. 235 F.2d 618, rehearing denied, 235 F.2d 619. We granted certiorari. 352 U.S. 965, 77 S.Ct. 356, 1 L.Ed.2d 320.
The seaman lost his life on the tug Arthur N. Herron, which, on the night of November 18, 1952, while towing a scow on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, caught fire when an open-flame kerosene lamp on the deck of the scow ignited highly inflammable vapors lying above an extensive accumulation of petroleum products spread over the surface of the river. Several oil refineries and facilities for oil storage, and for loading and unloading petroleum products, are located along the banks of the Schuylkill River. The trial court found that the lamp was not more than three feet above the water. Maintaining the lamp at a height of less than eight feet violated a navigation rule promulgated by the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. 1 The trial court found that the vapor would not have been ignited if the lamp had been carried at the required height.
The petitioner urges first that the statutory violation made the flotilla unseaworthy, creating liability without regard to fault. But the remedy for unseaworthiness derives from the general maritime law, and that law recognizes no cause of action for wrongful death whether occasioned by unseaworthiness or by negligence. The Harrisburg, 119 U.S. 199, 7 S.Ct. 140, 30 L.Ed. 358; 2 see Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia, 257 U.S. 233, 240, 42 S.Ct. 89, 90, 66 L.Ed. 210. Before the Jones Act, 3 federal courts of admiralty resorted to the various state death acts to give a remedy for wrongful death. The Hamilton, 207 U.S. 398, 28 S.Ct. 133, 52 L.Ed. 264; The Transfer No. 4, 2 Cir., 61 F. 364; see Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia, supra, 257 U.S. at page 242, 42 S.Ct. at page 90; Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski, 261 U.S. 479, 43 S.Ct. 418, 67 L.Ed. 756. The Jones Act created a federal right of action for the wrongful death of a seaman based on the statutory action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. In Lindgren v. United States, 281 U.S. 38, 50 S.Ct. 207, 74 L.Ed. 686, the Court held that the Jones Act remedy for wrongful death was exclusive and precluded any remedy for wrongful death within territorial waters, 4 based on unseaworthiness, whether derived from federal or state law. The petitioner assumes that under today's general maritime law the personal representative of a deceased seaman may elect, as the seaman himself may elect, between an action based on the FELA and an action, recognized in The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 175, 23 S.Ct. 483, 487, 47 L.Ed. 760, based upon unseaworthiness. In view of the disposition we are making of this case, we need not consider the soundness of this assumption.
The petitioner also urges that, since the violation of the rule requiring the lights to be eight feet above the water resulted in a defect or insufficiency in the flotilla's lighting equipment which in fact caused the seaman's death, liability was created without regard to negligence under the line of decisions of this Court in actions under the FELA based upon violations of either the Safety Appliance Acts 5 or the Boiler Inspection Act. 6 That line of decisions interpreted the clause of § 1 of the FELA, 45 U.S.C. 51, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, which imposes liability on the employer 'by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.' The cases hold that under this clause, a defect resulting from a violation of either statute which causes the injury or death of an employee creates liability without regard to negligence. San Antonio & A.P.R. Co. v. Wagner, 241 U.S. 476, 484, 36 S.Ct. 626, 629, 60 L.Ed. 1110. Here the defect or insufficiency in the flotilla's lighting equipment due to a violation of the statute resulted in the death of the seaman. The question for our decision is whether, in the absence of any showing of negligence, the Jones Act—which in terms incorporates the provisions of the FELA—permits recovery for the death of a seaman resulting from a violation of a statutory duty. We hold that it does.
The FELA and the Jones Act impose upon the employer the duty of paying damages when injury to the worker is caused, in whole or in part, by the employer's fault. This fault may consist of a breach of the duty of care, analogous but by no means identical to the general common-law duty, or of a breach of some statutory duty. The tort doctrine which the lower courts applied imposes liability for violation of a statutory duty only where the injury is one which the statute was designed to prevent. 7 However, this Court has repeatedly refused to apply such a limiting doctrine in FELA cases. In FELA cases based upon violations of the Safety Appliance Acts or the Boiler Inspection Act, the Court has held that a violation of either statute creates liability under FELA if the resulting defect or insufficiency in equipment contributes in fact to the death or injury in suit, without regard to whether the injury flowing from the breach was the injury the statute sought to prevent. Since it appears in this case that the defect or insufficiency of the flotilla's lighting equipment resulting from the violation of 33 U.S.C. 157, 33 U.S.C.A. § 157, actually caused the seaman's death, this principle governs and compels a result in favor of the petitioner's claim.
'The language selected by Congress to fix liability in cases of this kind is simple and direct. Consideration of its meaning by the introduction of dialectical subtleties can serve no useful interpretative purpose. The statute declares that railroads shall be responsible for their employees' deaths 'resulting in whole or in part' from defective appliances such as were here maintained. 45 U.S.C. 51, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51. And to make its purpose crystal clear, Congress has also provided that 'no such employee * * * shall be held to have been guilty of contributory negligence in any case' where a violation of the Safety Appliance Act, such as the one here, 'contributed to the * * * death of such employee.' 45 U.S.C. 53, 45 U.S.C.A. § 53. Congress has thus for its own reasons imposed extraordinary safety obligations upon railroads and has commanded that if a breach of these obligations contributes in part to an employee's death, the railroad must pay damages. These air-brakes were defective; for this reason alone the train suddenly and unexpectedly stopped; a motor track car following at about the same rate of speed and operated by an employee looking in another direction crashed into the train; all of these circumstances were inseparably related to one another in time and space. The jury could have found that decedent's death resulted from any or all of the foregoing circumstances.'
Second, it is argued that the Safety Appliance and Boiler Inspection Acts are special safety statutes and thus may easily be assimilated to the FELA under general common-law principles. But there is no magic in the word 'safety.' In the cases we have discussed it was regarded as irrelevant that the defects in the appliances did not disable them from performing their intended safety function. For instance, in Gotschall the coupling defect parting the cars resulted in the automatic setting of the emergency brakes as a safety measure. In Coray the train stopped due to the operation of the very safety mechanism required by the statute. In Urie the defect in the sanders which caused sand to come into the locomotive cabs in no wise impaired the designed safety function of the sanders—to provide sand for traction. We think that the irrelevance of the safety aspect in these cases demonstrates that the basis of liability is a violation of statutory duty without regard to whether the injury flowing from the violation was the injury the statute sought to guard against. It must therefore be concluded that the nature of the Acts violated is not a controlling consideration; the basis of liability is the FELA. 8
I share the view of the Court that under existing law a cause of action for wrongful death does not lie on principles of unseaworthiness, and that therefore respondent's liability for the death caused by this unfortunate accident depends entirely on the Jones Act, 41 Stat. 1007, 46 U.S.C. 688, 46 U.S.C.A. § 688, which incorporates the provisions of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 35 Stat. 65, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 51—60, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51—60, and thereby reflects the principles of negligence upon which the FELA is explicitly based.
The District Court granted exoneration to respondent upon findings that the accident was not attributable to negligence of any kind on its part, and in particular that respondent was not negligent in carrying the kerosene signal lantern, which ignited the fumes from the petroleum products on the surface of the river, at a height of three feet in a part of the river which had never been considered a danger area. Although the District Court found that the accident was traceable in fact to respondent's violation of a Coast Guard regulation, 33 CFR § 80.16(h), which required a white light to be carried at a minimum height of eight feet above the water, 1 the court held that this violation did not of itself give rise to liability in negligence because the sole purpose of the statute authorizing the regulation, 30 Stat. 102, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 157, 33 U.S.C.A. § 157, was to guard against collisions and not to prevent the type of accident which here resulted.
The Court neither casts doubt on the District Court's finding that respondent was not negligent in carrying the tug's lantern at three feet above the water surface nor disputes that the sole purpose of the Coast Guard regulation was to guard against the risk of collision, but it nevertheless decides that violation of the regulation in and of itself rendered the respondent liable for all injuries flowing from it. This holding is said to follow from the decisions of this Court in a series of FELA cases based on violations of the Safety Appliance Act, 27 Stat. 531, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 1—16, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 1—16, and the Boiler Inspection Act, 36 Stat. 913, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 22—34, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 22—34. These decisions as the Court here properly states, have created under the FELA an absolute liability—that is, a liability 'without regard to negligence'—for injuries resulting from violations of the other Acts. From this, the Court concludes that there is no reason not to extend this absolute liability to cases based on the violation of a statutory duty which are brought under the Jones Act.
The rationale for these earlier cases is not entirely clear, but after a good deal of uncertainty it finally became established in 1948 and 1949 that railway employees suffering injuries in consequence of a violation of safety regulations found in or promulgated under either the Safety Appliance Act or the Boiler Inspection Act could maintain an action under the FELA without reference to the law of negligence. Urie v. Thompson, 337 U.S. 163, 69 S.Ct. 1018, 93 L.Ed. 1282; O'Donnell v. Elgin, J. & E.R. Co., 338 U.S. 384, 70 S.Ct. 200, 94 L.Ed. 187; Carter v. Atlanta & St. A.B.R. Co., 338 U.S. 430, 70 S.Ct. 226, 94 L.Ed. 236. As a result of these cases, the scope of § 1 of the FELA, 35 Stat. 65, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 51, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, has been enlarged by making compensable not only injuries 'resulting in whole or in part from the negligence' of the carrier, but also those resulting from violation of the two regulatory Acts, so that in effect these Acts give rise, through the medium of the FELA, to a 'non-negligence' (O'Donnell, supra, 338 U.S. at page 391, 70 S.Ct. at page 204) cause of action. Referring to the nature of that kind of action this Court said in Carter, supra (338 U.S. at page 434, 70 S.Ct. at page 229):
In the cases involving the Safety Appliance and the Boiler Inspection Acts, the Court has repeatedly emphasized that the manifest purpose of Congress was to foster through these particular Acts the safety of employees and to make employees secure in their jobs, a purpose partially evidenced by statements prefacing each of these Acts as they were originally enacted: 'An Act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to * * *' follow the rules of each Act, 27 Stat. 531; 36 Stat. 913; Illinois Central R. Co. v. Williams, 242 U.S. 462, 466 467, 37 S.Ct. 128, 129, 61 L.Ed. 437; Urie v. Thompson, supra, 337 U.S. at pages 190—191, 69 S.Ct. at pages 1034—1035. In keeping with this statement of purpose, two sections of the Safety Appliance Act expressly refer to the civil liability of employers to injured employees by abrogating the commonlaw defense of assumption of risk and by preserving such civil liability over a particular exception to the general liability for fines payable to the United States which is imposed on carriers for violation of the provisions of the Act. 27 Stat. 532, 45 U.S.C. 7, 45 U.S.C.A. § 7. 36 Stat. 299, 45 U.S.C. 13, 45 U.S.C.A. § 13.
Paralleling the provision of the Safety Appliance Act referring to assumption of risk is § 4 of the FELA, 35 Stat. 66, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 54, 45 U.S.C.A. § 54, which abolishes the defense of assumption of risk not only with respect to actions grounded on negligence but also 'in any case where the violation * * * of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of' an employee. This quoted clause is included also in § 3 of the Act, 35 Stat. 66, 45 U.S.C. 53, 45 U.S.C.A. § 53, which substitutes for the absolute connon-law defense of contributory negligence what is in effect a rule of comparative negligence, but bars this defense completely in actions based on the violation of such a statute. The phrase 'any statute enacted for the safety of employees' of course refers to the Safety Appliance Act, Moore v. Chesapeake & Ohio R. Co., 291 U.S. 205, 210, 54 S.Ct. 402, 404, 78 L.Ed. 755, and to the Boiler Inspection Act, Urie v. Thompson, supra, 337 U.S. at pages 188 189, 69 S.Ct. at pages 1033—1034. The use of this phrase in juxtaposition with the term 'negligence' in these sections confirms the congressional purpose to accord special treatment to employees injured by violations of these Acts.
Despite the explanations in the past cases for creation of this absolute liability, the Court now asserts that 'the nature of the Acts violated is not a controlling consideration.' Indeed, it does not even appear to be a pertinent consideration, for the opinion makes no effort to show that a similar congressional intent to create absolute liability in favor of seamen, or even to afford additional rights to seamen, can be discerned either in the terms of the statute authorizing this Coast Guard regulation or in its relationship with the Jones Act. It is abundantly clear from the face of the regulation, and its setting, that its purpose was simply to prevent collisions, rather than to guard against such unforeseeable occurrences as the explosion in this case. 2 This is confirmed by the tenor of the section of the statute under which the regulation issued:
'The Commandant of the United States Coast Guard shall establish such rules to be observed on the waters mentioned (in the preceding section) by steam vessels in passing each other and as to the lights to be carried on such waters by ferryboats and by vessels and craft of all types when in tow of steam vessels * * * as he from time to time may deem necessary for safety * * *.' 3
Moreover, although another section of the same statute indicates that violation of this regulation does give rise to an absolute liability on the part of the master or mate of the tug for damages suffered by passengers, that section makes no reference to seamen's remedies and provides generally that liability of the vessel or owner is not to be affected by the statute. 4 Finally, there are no cross provisions between this statute and the sections of the FELA incorporated into the Jones Act comparable to those found between the FELA, on the one hand, and the Sefety Appliance and Boiler Inspection Acts, on the other. In short, unlike the situation as to those statutes, one can look in vain for evidence of a congressional purpose to supplement the remedies for injuries due to negligence available to seamen under the Jones Act by a cause of action based on absolute liability for damages suffered in consequence of a violation of this Coast Guard regulation. In these circumstances, the argument that such a cause of action arises because the Jones Act 'expressly provides for seamen the cause of action * * * granted to railroad workers by the FELA' seems to me an empty one.
'We recognize * * * that the Federal Employers' Liability Act is founded on common-law concepts of negligence and injury, subject to such qualifications as Congress has imported into those terms.' 5
The Commandant is empowered by 30 Stat. 102, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 157, 33 U.S.C.A. § 157, to establish rules 'as to the lights to be carried * * * as he * * * may deem necessary for safety * * *.' This section was contained in the Act of June 7, 1897, the purpose of which was to codify the rules governing navigation on inland waters and to conform them as nearly as practicable to the revised international rules for preventing collisions at sea adopted at the International Marine Conference in October 1889. 30 Cong.Rec. 1394; H.R.Doc. No. 42, 55th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 1.
'Any seaman who shall suffer personal injury in the course of his employment may, at his election, maintain an action for damages at law, with the right of trial by jury, and in such action 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; and in case of the death of any seaman as a result of any such personal injury the personal representative of such seaman may maintain an action for damages at law with the right of trial by jury, and in such action all statutes of the United States conferring or regulating the right of action for death in the case of railway employees shall be applicable. (I.e., Federal Employers' Liability Act, 35 Stat. 65, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 51—60, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51—60.) Jurisdiction in such actions shall be under the court of the district in which the defendant employer resides or in which his principal office is located.' 41 Stat. 1007, 46 U.S.C. 688, 46 U.S.C.A. § 688.
Where death occurs beyond a marine league from state shores, the Death on the High Seas Act, 41 Stat. 537, 46 U.S.C. 761—768, 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 761—768, provides a remedy for wrongful death. Presumably any claims, based on unseaworthiness, for damages accrued prior to the decedent's death would survive, at least if a pertinent state statute is effective to bring about a survival of the seaman's right. See Holland v. Steag, Inc., D.C., 143 F.Supp. 203; cf. Cox v. Roth, 348 U.S. 207, 75 S.Ct. 242, 99 L.Ed. 260; Just v. Chambers, 312 U.S. 383, 668, 61 S.Ct. 687, 85 L.Ed. 903. Claims for maintenance and cure survive the death of the seaman. Sperbeck v. A. L. Burbank & Co., 2 Cir., 190 F.2d 449. For a discussion of the applicability of a state wrongful-death statute to an action for death of a nonseaman based upon a breach of the warranty of seaworthiness, see Skovgaard v. The Tungus, 3 Cir., 252 F.2d 14.
27 Stat. 531, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 1—16, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 1—16.
36 Stat. 913, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 22—34, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 22—34.
The dissenters argue that the Safety Appliance and Boiler Inspection Acts were each prefaced by the statement: 'An act to promote the safety of employees and travelers * * *.' But we are not persuaded that liability under the FELA should depend on the title of the Acts whose violation is alleged. Were we to rely on such indicia we could point out that the statute here involved empowered the Commandant of the Coast Guard to establish rules 'as to the lights to be carried * * * as he * * * may deem necessary for safety * * *.' 30 Stat. 102, 33 U.S.C. 157, 33 U.S.C.A. § 157. (Emphasis added.)
This section, 30 Stat. 102, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 157, 33 U.S.C.A. § 157, appears under Chapter 3 of Title 33, which bears the title: 'Navigation Rules for Harbors, Rivers, And Inland Waters Generally.' Other sections under Chapter 3 refer to sound signals ( 33 U.S.C. 191, 33 U.S.C.A. § 191), speed in fog ( 33 U.S.C. 192, 33 U.S.C.A. § 192), and ascertainment of risk of collision ( 33 U.S.C. 201, 33 U.S.C.A. § 201). Section 157 was originally enacted as part of the Act of June 7, 1897, and the clear purpose of that Act was simply to effect a codification of all rules governing navigation on inland waters so that they would conform in the highest possible degree to prevailing international rules for the prevention of collisions at sea. H.R.Doc. No. 42, 55th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 1.
30 Stat. 102, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 158, 33 U.S.C.A. § 158, was also enacted as part of the Act of June 7, 1897, note 3, supra. It provides in part that: 'Every pilot, engineer, mate, or master of any steam vessel * * * and every master or mate of any barge or canal boat, who neglects or refuses to observe the provisions of * * * the regulations established in pursuance of (§ 157, text at note 3, supra) * * * shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars, and for all damages sustained by any passenger in his person or baggage by such neglect or refusal: Provided, That nothing herein shall relieve any vessel, owner, or corporation from any liability incurred by reason of such neglect or refusal.' As originally drafted, preceding its enactment in 1897, present § 158 read substantially as it does now, except that it did not contain the last 'Provided' clause. H.R.Doc. No. 42, 55th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 9. In the House debates concerning the Act of 1897, discussion was directed in part to this section and the question was raised whether its effect might be to impose liability for injury to passengers exclusively upon officers of the vessels, who might be financially irresponsible. 30 Cong.Rec. 1395. To end these doubts, the section was amended prior to its enactment by addition of the 'Provided' clause. Representative Payne stated that the amendment's purpose was to make clear that liability of the vessel or owner of the vessel for damages would remain entirely unaffected by the section. 30 Cong.Rec. 1465. In other words, the Act of 1897 was not intended either to define to any extent liability of a vessel or its owner or to advance the remedies or broaden the rights of seamen, but simply afforded passengers remedies against officers personally liable because of breach of regulations.
The qualifications of course refer to those provisions of the FELA not applicable to the facts of this case which modify or abrogate the common-law defenses of contributory negligence, § 3, 35 Stat. 66, 45 U.S.C. 53, 45 U.S.C.A. § 53, and assumption of risk, § 4, 35 Stat. 66, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 54, 45 U.S.C.A. § 54.
METRO-NORTH COMMUTER RAILROAD COMPANY, Petitioner, v. Michael BUCKLEY.