Opinion ID: 471638
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negligence, unseaworthiness, and products liability

Text: 10 claims
11 Plaintiff based the negligence claims, the unseaworthiness claim and the products liability claim on defendants' allegedly negligent placement of the winch. Plaintiff claimed that the winch was placed too close to the hatch cover and not high enough above the deck, which configuration presented an inherently unsafe condition. 12 One of the elements necessary to establish a cause of action for negligence, unseaworthiness, and products liability is causation. See, e.g., Caldwell v. Manhattan Tankers Corp., 618 F.2d 361, 363 (5th Cir.1980) (Jones Act requires plaintiff to show a causal connection between his injury and some omission or commission by the shipowner that renders the ship unseaworthy); Davis v. Hill Engineering, Inc., 549 F.2d 314, 329-330 (5th Cir.1977) (cause of action lies for damages for personal injury proximately caused by the vessel's unseaworthiness); Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 402A(1) (1965) (imposing strict liability on sellers of defective products for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer....). 13 Although the burden on the plaintiff to prove proximate cause in actions based on general maritime law and the Jones Act is very light, even featherweight, Davis, 549 F.2d at 331, plaintiff in this case failed to meet his burden of proof. He presented no evidence to establish that his injury was caused by the proximity of the winch to the hatch cover or its height above the deck. The district court found that the size of the TIFFANY limited how far away the hatch could have been located and that the distance between the winch and the hatch was typical for a boat of that size and type. The winch controls were located in such manner as to require the operator to stand immediately next to the winch. Witnesses on both sides testified that the need to stand near the winch during operation was one of several reasons it was dangerous to wear loose clothing, long sleeves, or hip boots aboard a shrimp boat. Plaintiff was wearing turned down hip boots at the time of the accident; the catching of his boot by the cat-head initiated the injury. The district court found that plaintiff's wearing of these boots substantially contributed to his injury. 14 We cannot say that the findings of the district court are clearly erroneous. Because plaintiff has failed to establish the necessary causal connection between his injury and the placement of the winch, his negligence, unseaworthiness, and products liability claims must fail.
15 Plaintiff maintains that it was not necessary for him to prove negligence, unseaworthiness, or causation because the Barwicks, in their third party claims against Biloxi Machine Works and Roger Nichols, admitted facts that would constitute all three of these elements. Biloxi manufactured the winch in which plaintiff's leg became entangled. The third party complaint against Biloxi alleges that the winch was in a defective and unreasonably dangerous condition and that the defective condition of the winch may have been a proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries. The third party complaint against Roger Nichols alleges that as the owner pro hac vice of the TIFFANY he breached his duties to plaintiff to provide him with a seaworthy place to work and to adequately train and supervise him and to warn him of any dangers present on the TIFFANY. 16 Plaintiff's reliance upon Best Canvas Products & Supplies, Inc. v. Ploof Truck Lines, Inc., 713 F.2d 618 (11th Cir.1983) is misplaced. In Ploof the court held that the defendant was bound by its third party complaint/counterclaim as a judicial admission that the cause of action arose in Georgia. Ploof is an example of the general rule that a party is bound by the admissions in his pleadings. 17 An exception has been carved out of this general rule to permit the exercise of the liberal pleading and joinder provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure lest inconsistent pleadings under Rule 8(e)(2) be used as admissions negating each other and lest the allegations in third party complaints and cross-claims seeking recovery over in the event of liability in the principal action be used as admissions establishing liability. Continental Insurance Co. of New York v. Sherman, 439 F.2d 1294, 1298 (5th Cir.1971). In Sherman the court held that the general rule binding a party by the admissions in his pleadings did not apply when a party took inconsistent positions ... in pleadings in a complicated joinder situation, involving ... the contingent liability of third parties. Id. 18 This case presents a fact pattern similar to that in Sherman. The Barwicks have taken inconsistent positions in their pleadings in order to lay a basis for establishing the contingent liability of Biloxi and Roger Nichols. 19 The entry of a default judgment on the third party complaint against Biloxi should make no difference in the result of this case. To apply the principles of res judicata or issue preclusion to inconsistent positions taken in pleadings in a joinder situation involving the contingent liability of third parties merely because a final judgment has been entered on those pleadings would contravene the language and the policies set forth in Sherman. 20 The judgment of the district court dismissing plaintiff's claims for negligence, unseaworthiness, and products liability must be affirmed.