Source: http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19780724_0040211.C02.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2016-10-27 19:04:07
Document Index: 380833921

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 905', '§ 61', '§ 61', '§ 413', '§ 905', '§ 905', '§ 941', '§ 905', '§ 905', '§ 905', '§ 905', '§ 905', '§ 905', '§ 905']

| Lopez v. Svendborg
Lopez v. Svendborg
ESTEBAN LOPEZ, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,v.A/S D/S SVENDBORG AND D/S OF 1912 A/S, DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES
Appeal from directed verdict by United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Richard Owen, J., in negligence action by longshoreman suing shipowner for personal injuries. Reversed and remanded.
Before Oakes, Circuit Judge, and Mehrtens*fn* and Blumenfeld,*fn** District Judges.
At issue on this appeal is whether there was evidence of negligence by the defendant shipowner "of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment might reach different conclusions . . . ." Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (5th Cir. 1969). See also Epoch Producing Corp. v. Killiam Shows, Inc., 522 F.2d 737, 742-43 (2d Cir. 1975), Cert. denied, 424 U.S. 955, 96 S. Ct. 1429, 47 L. Ed. 2d 360 (1976). In making that assessment we "must view the evidence and all inferences most favorably to the party against whom the motion is made," O'Connor v. Pennsylvania R.R. Co., 308 F.2d 911, 914 (2d Cir. 1962). "The non-moving party is given the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the evidence, and evidence unfavorable to it may be considered only if that evidence stands uncontradicted and unimpeached." Bigelow v. Agway, Inc., 506 F.2d 551, 554 (2d Cir. 1974).
(1) First he considered the conduct of the plaintiff. He focused his attention upon the duty of the plaintiff with respect to the risk of injury.
"It seems to me absolutely clear on this record, without argument, that there is no jury question here. Longshoremen, since time immemorial have had to work under circumstances where there is litter, there is debris, there are turnbuckles, there are bales of wire, there are pieces of dunnage broken and unbroken, lying about areas in which they are working. And they are expected to cope with this kind of thing lying around the areas in which they are working." Tr. 226.
"if you go with this case on the Ruffino test, . . . the law there is, "Before liability can attach for (an) independently created danger,' which is here arguably heavy seas, "the owner must have knowledge of its existence and (the) opportunity to alleviate it.' There is no question on this record the jury can find the owner knew of its existence." Tr. 227.
By this juxtaposition of comments on the duty of the shipowner and the duty upon the plaintiff it appears that the Judge may have been adopting the harsh rule that contributory negligence is a complete bar to recovery. In admiralty contributory negligence may reduce, but does not bar, recovery for personal injuries. Under the admiralty rule the plaintiff's recovery is reduced in proportion to his own fault. Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406, 408-09, 74 S. Ct. 202, 98 L. Ed. 143 (1953). By its adoption of the 1972 Amendments to LHWCA, Congress intended that comparative negligence would apply to longshoremen's actions, and that assumption of risk would not. H.R.Rep.No.92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., Reprinted in (1972) U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 4698, 4705.*fn1 The ruling of the court was in error insofar as it was based on a conclusion that the plaintiff was barred from recovery because he was guilty of contributory negligence or had assumed the risk of his injuries. Whether, and to what extent, any contributory negligence of the plaintiff should reduce his damages must be left to the jury for its determination.
"Courts must be exceedingly careful in defining the contours of the longshoreman's action for negligence against the ship, which was preserved by § 905(b) of the 1972 amendments to the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act . . . ."
The purposes of Congress in enacting the 1972 Amendments to LHWCA have been so perceptively enlarged upon in other cases*fn2 that additional broad analysis here would be redundant.
As the trial judge correctly decided, there was evidence that the defendant knew of the risk of injury from the loose bolts to anyone working in hold No. 4. He was, nevertheless, persuaded to rule that no jury could properly find that the defendant was negligent. His recorded remarks disclose that he relied expressly upon a dictum in Ruffino v. Scindia Steam Navigation Co., supra, 559 F.2d at 862: "Before liability can attach for (an) independently created danger, the owner must have knowledge of its existence and (the) opportunity to alleviate it."*fn3 A fuller reading of Ruffino indicates that the "opportunity to alleviate" phrase is merely a timeliness gloss on the requirement of notice of the dangerous condition, meaning only that the defendant must have notice of it in sufficient time to take action to remedy it. In other words, "The mere existence of a defect or danger is not enough to establish liability, unless it is shown to be of such a character or of such duration that the jury may reasonably conclude that due care would have discovered it." W. Prosser, Law of Torts § 61 at 393 (4th ed. 1971). The cases cited in Ruffino do not purport to give any content to "opportunity to alleviate" other than knowledge of the risk in time enough to take protective measures against the risk of injury.
"where the occupier, as a reasonable man, should anticipate an unreasonable risk of harm to the invitee notwithstanding his knowledge, warning, or the obvious nature of the condition, something more in the way of precautions may be required. . . . In all such cases the jury may be permitted to find that obviousness, warning or even knowledge is not enough." W. Prosser, Supra, § 61 at 394-95, Quoted with approval in Anuszewski v. Dynamic Mariners Corp. Panama, 391 F. Supp. 1143, 1147 (D.Md.1975), Aff'd, 540 F.2d 757 (4th Cir. 1976), Cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1098, 97 S. Ct. 1116, 51 L. Ed. 2d 545 (1977).
Here, as in Lubrano v. Royal Netherlands Steamship Co., 572 F.2d 364 (2d that a vessel would be liable only for its own failure Cir. 1978), there was evidence of direct knowledge of the unsafe condition before the injury occurred and that the ship's officer knew that nothing was going to be done to alleviate it. What was said there is squarely applicable, at 367: "But if there is again evidence that a ship's officer, after being notified of the open and obvious danger of insufficient dunnage for a slippery cargo, had the men keep working Or joined in the stevedore's decision to do so, then there would be a jury question." (Emphasis added) In this case the evidence "was enough to allow a jury to conclude that the ship's officer approved and joined in the direction that the men keep working . . . ." Id., at 367. The plaintiff was not instructed as to what he should do about the "mess" but was apparently allowed to use his own judgment. The circumstance that the risk of harm was not recognized until the removal of the cargo was in progress is no basis for failure to take precautionary methods against it after the dangerous condition became known. Indeed, the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 413 requires the employer of an independent contractor to use reasonable care to provide for precautions where the work to be done Should be recognized "as likely to create, during its progress, a peculiar unreasonable risk of physical harm to others unless special precautions are taken . . . ."*fn4 Comment d. states:
The fact that the stevedore shared in the decision to continue working did not exonerate the shipowner, and there is no reason, as a matter of fundamental tort law, why it should not be held liable in damages for its own negligence. It is well established tort law that "an actor whose negligence has set a dangerous force in motion is not saved from liability for harm it has caused to innocent persons solely because another has negligently failed to take action that would have avoided this." Petition of Kinsman Transit Co., 338 F.2d 708, 719 (2d Cir. 1964), Cert. denied sub nom. Continental Grain Co. v. City of Buffalo, 380 U.S. 944, 85 S. Ct. 1026, 13 L. Ed. 2d 963 (1965). Thus, even if the stevedore was negligent in failing to eliminate the dangerous condition, that would not be a defense for the shipowner. Moreover, in Dodge v. Mitsui Shintaku Ginko K.K. Tokyo, 528 F.2d 669, 674 (9th Cir. 1975), Cert. denied, 425 U.S. 944, 96 S. Ct. 1685, 48 L. Ed. 2d 188 (1976), it was expressly held "that a longshoreman who has been injured by the concurring negligence of his employer stevedore and the vessel owner can recover the total of his damages from the vessel owner." We have also rejected a contention by a shipowner that an injured longshoreman could not recover damages against it unless he proved that the shipowner was solely responsible for his injury, stating:
"First, the draftsmen of section 5(b), 33 U.S.C. § 905(b), could easily have inserted the word "sole' so that the clause would have read "caused by the "sole" negligence of the vessel.' Nothing has been called to our attention to indicate such intention. Second, Congress would hardly have given the ship so little incentive to avoid being negligent toward its longshoremen invitees. Third, the scheme of the Act is to provide workmen's compensation for a longshoreman from his own employer, but with a right to sue the ship for negligence. We cannot agree that some negligence by the employer is enough to cut off the injured longshoreman's protected right to sue the ship for its own negligence. Of course, if the negligence was Solely that of the stevedore, the ship would have been found neither negligent nor liable." Landon v. Lief Hoegh & Co., 521 F.2d 756, 763 (2d Cir. 1975) (footnote omitted), Cert. denied sub nom. A/S Arcadia v. Gulf Insurance Co., 423 U.S. 1053, 96 S. Ct. 783, 46 L. Ed. 2d 642 (1976).
After our decision in Landon, the court in Dodge, supra, 528 F.2d at 672, in taking the view we expressed, quoted with approval from Santino v. Liberian Distance Transports, Inc., 405 F. Supp. 34, 35 (W.D.Wash.1975):
" "On its face it seems inequitable for a shipowner to be liable to an injured longshoreman for all of the latter's damages if the negligence of the shipowner was not the sole proximate cause of the injuries but rather concurred with the negligence of the stevedore employer. Particularly would this be true if the fault of the stevedore employer were much greater than that of the shipowner. Nevertheless, since the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Act is a creature of Congress, it would in this Court's opinion be better for Congress to effect the elimination of any inequity than to have the various District Courts seek to remove that inequity by means which would unavoidably vary from district to district.
" "Permitting a shipowner to plead the negligence of the stevedore as an affirmative defense would not eliminate inequity. It would simply shift the inequity from shipowner to injured longshoreman. He would be restricted in his recovery as against the shipowner without acquiring any offsetting rights under the Act as against his stevedore employer.' (emphasis added)."
And, more recently, the Fifth Circuit adhered to the rationale of Dodge and Landon in upholding a judgment for a longshoreman against a vessel owner for negligence in a terse and vigorous opinion by Judge Rubin, who considered cases from other circuits with contrary holdings. Samuels v. Empresa Lineas Maritimas Argentinas, 573 F.2d 884 (5th Cir. 1978). The rule that the shipowner cannot use the negligence of the stevedore as a defense to a negligence action against it brought by the injured longshoreman, is strengthened by its corollary that the shipowner cannot assert the stevedore's negligence to defeat the stevedore's right to reimbursement of compensation payments out of any damages the longshoreman may recover. In Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, supra, the Court held that even though the stevedore was concurrently negligent, it could still recover its compensation lien in full, noting, 346 U.S. at 412, 74 S. Ct. at 206, that "reduction of (the shipowner's) liability at the expense of (the stevedore) would be the substantial equivalent of contribution which we declined to require in the Halcyon case."*fn5 We have recently held that Pope & Talbot is still good law. Landon, supra, 521 F.2d at 760.
"In dealing with § 905(b), courts would do better to consider the policies that actuated Congress in adopting the 1972 Amendments. In my view Congress did not mean to subject the ship to liability for every dangerous condition known or knowable to it when it had a right to assume that this would be remedied by the employer, as § 941(a) requires."*fn6
The recent decision in Cox v. Flota Mercante Grancolombiana, S.A., 577 F.2d 798, (2d Cir. 1978), reversed a jury verdict in favor of Cox, a longshoreman, against the ship on the ground that it was the stevedore's duty alone as an independent contractor to remedy unsafe conditions. The Cox decision was handed down "in the face of known disagreement by a majority of (the) panel" in Canizzo, supra, which Upheld a jury verdict for a longshoreman against a ship and included a comment on Cox's contrary view.*fn7
To avoid the risk of being misunderstood, we do not say that a shipowner should be held Vicariously liable for the tortious acts of an independent contractor, or his servants. But the shield against vicarious liability for the negligence of an independent contractor does not also shield the shipowner from liability for its own negligence. Although § 905(b) may be construed to "demonstrate that . . . the major responsibility for the proper and safe conduct of the work was to be borne by the stevedore," Brown v. Ivarans Rederi A/S, 545 F.2d 854, 860 (3d Cir. 1976), Cert. denied, 430 U.S. 969, 97 S. Ct. 1652, 52 L. Ed. 2d 361 (1977); Ramirez v. Toko Kaiun K. K., 385 F. Supp. 644, 653 (N.D.Cal.1974), or that "the primary duty to provide a safe place to work is on the stevedore," Lucas v. "Brinknes" Schiffahrts Ges., 379 F. Supp. 759, 768 (E.D.Pa.1974), neither "major responsibility" nor "primary duty" may be read as "sole responsibility." See Landon, supra, 521 F.2d at 762-63.
In rejecting the argument of a shipowner that it should not be held liable unless its negligence was the sole cause of the damages, we noted in Landon, id. at 763: "Congress would hardly have given the ship so little incentive to avoid being negligent toward its longshoremen invitees." The basis for an assumption that prevention can be maximized by shifting the liability to one already liable, and only for a lesser amount, is doubtful.*fn8
The particular ingredient of the independent contractor relationship from which the defendant seeks to forge a shield against liability for its own negligence is said to be the independent contractor's control over the work and the place where the work is done. It is self-evident that if the shipowner relinquishes control of an unsafe place to work to the sole control of the stevedore, that relinquishment comes about because of an agreement it makes with the stevedore.*fn9 The parties may be careful in drawing their contract to provide an appearance of independence or control of the area where the work is to be done. But to enable a shipowner to escape liability by entering an agreement with the stevedore would contravene Congress' intention.
The 1972 amendments did not modify § 905(a) by which Congress had explicitly made the employers absolutely liable for compensation "exclusive and in place of all other liability . . . to the employee." See Louviere v. Shell Oil Co., 509 F.2d 278 (5th Cir. 1975), Cert. denied sub nom. American Marine Corp. v. Louviere, 423 U.S. 1078, 96 S. Ct. 867, 47 L. Ed. 2d 90 (1976). Section 905(b) provides from the other side that in the case of injury to a covered employee, "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." (Emphasis added)
"Accordingly, the bill expressly prohibits such recovery, whether based on an implied or express warranty. It is the Committee's intention to Prohibit such recovery under any theory including, without limitation, theories based on contract or tort.*fn10
In Zapico v. Bucyrus-Erie Co., 579 F.2d 714 at 721 (2d Cir. 1978), Judge Friendly observed that the legislative history "does indicate that § 905 was meant to prevent Ryan indemnity actions by vessels . . . . " And he stated, Id.: "The shipowners got a Quid pro quo for the loss of their indemnity rights." The Quid pro quo was the mitigation of the harsh no-fault doctrine of seaworthiness. See S. S. Seatrain Louisiana v. California Stevedore & Ballast Co., 424 F. Supp. 180, 182-83 (N.D.Cal.1976). Indeed, the House Report states, H.R.Rep.No.92-1441, Supra, at 4704: "The Committee also believes that the doctrine of the Ryan case . . . is no longer appropriate . . . ."
To permit a shipowner to negotiate with the stevedore by "contractual agreement or otherwise" for cargo removal operations so as to relieve it of liability to the longshoreman for damages caused by its own negligence, on the ground that the shipowner had a right to rely on the stevedore to remove the cause, would be to restore the kind of right to indemnity which § 905(b) eliminates. It seems to us that on any fair assessment of the legislative scheme in § 905(b) the implication of a right of exoneration in the shipowner from an employer based on the "independent contractor" relationship would be alien to Congress' intention. The rule regarding indemnity agreements, while not directly applicable to the question of whether the shipowner can be found negligent, is a crucial part of the legislative scheme. To maintain the integrity of that scheme, we should not adopt a rule as to negligence that is so inconsistent with the indemnity prohibition as to undermine a principle which Congress has established as fundamental. As stated in an analogous context in Laird v. Nelms, 406 U.S. 797, 802, 92 S. Ct. 1899, 1902, 32 L. Ed. 2d 499 (1972): "To permit (defendant) to proceed on (an independent contractor) theory here would be to judicially admit at the back door that which has been legislatively turned away at the front door. We do not believe the Act permits such a result." There is no warrant for a contention that a right of indemnity arising out of the relationship between an employer and its independent contractor is intrinsically immutable. Congress has excised that incident of the relationship "as a matter of public policy" in cases covered by § 905(b).
As an abstract matter an argument can be made that after turning over a job of work to be done aboard its ship to a stevedore a shipowner ought not to be liable for damages suffered by a longshoreman for pre-existing dangerous conditions it has created, or negligently failed to correct. The argument advanced in some of the cases, as noted in the dissenting opinion in Canizzo, supra, is that when dangerous working conditions arise the shipowner may justifiably rely on the independent contractors to "take care of the problem as they were bound to do." Id., at 690.*fn11 Even if it might be said that there can be such a duty to the shipowner, despite an express redaction in § 905(b) of any remedy for its breach, that would not relieve the ship of its own duty to exercise reasonable care. But a provision in a law which has been enacted by Congress must be distinguished from one which might have been but was not. Our concern is not to assess the fairness of a legislative scheme. Even if we were permitted to do so, we could not say that there is no rational, fair basis for holding a shipowner liable for its own negligence, instead of singling out the stevedore who did not create the risk, to be solely responsible.