Opinion ID: 509511
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Joint liability of Jones Act defendant with general maritime defendant

Text: 32 Defendants argue that even if joint liability is proper as to maritime defendants or Jones Act defendants, it is not proper to cause a Jones Act defendant to be jointly liable with a maritime defendant. For this proposition defendants cite Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946), a case in which the Supreme Court held that negligent defendants were not jointly liable with a tort-feasor whose liability arose from unseaworthiness because unseaworthiness rests upon an entirely different basis from negligence. Id., 66 S.Ct. at 875. The basis of Smith's liability is the Jones Act, while Lumar's liability arises under the general maritime law. But despite the fact that the respective obligations of Lumar and Smith toward Simeon arise from different sources, the obligation is the same: to avoid fault by acting reasonably. Sieracki is distinguishable from this case on grounds that unseaworthiness is not based on fault. 66 S.Ct. at 877; Cooper Stevedoring, 94 S.Ct. at 2179 (commenting that unseaworthiness defendant not jointly liable with negligent defendant because unseaworthiness does not require a showing of fault); see Usner v. Luckenbach Overseas Corp., 400 U.S. 494, 91 S.Ct. 514, 517, 27 L.Ed.2d 562 (1971); cf. Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 876 caveat (1979) (ALI takes no position on whether one acting in concert with another should be liable for acts of the other when the liability of either is based on strict liability). By contrast, both the Jones Act and maritime negligence are fault-based, and so we believe the Sieracki rule is inapplicable. 33 Defendants argue that because the Jones Act burden of causation is lighter than that applied to a maritime law negligence claim, e.g., Chisholm v. Sabine Towing & Transportation Co., 679 F.2d 60, 62 (5th Cir.1982) (citing cases), the Sieracki rule should apply to prevent the judgment in this case from being joint. Defendants do not cite any case suggesting that the different burden of causation applied to these two bases of recovery is sufficient to take the case out of the rule of joint liability. On the contrary, there is precedent for holding a Jones Act defendant jointly liable with a defendant whose negligence arises under state or general maritime law. See Joia v. Jo-Ja Service Corp., 817 F.2d 908, 915-18 (1st Cir.1987); Ebanks v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 688 F.2d 716 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1083, 103 S.Ct. 1774, 76 L.Ed.2d 346 (1983).