Opinion ID: 497009
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: great lakes' claims against chevron

Text: 59 The remainder of this opinion deals with issues arising out of Chevron's and Great Lakes' attempts to shift responsibility for the collision to determine apportionment of damages to their respective vessels. As discussed above, the district court found that Great Lakes was negligent toward Danny Self by failing to maintain and conduct certain required safety features and procedures. The lower court also found that Great Lakes violated the Pilot Rules for Inland Waters, 33 C.F.R. Sec. 80.26(c) (1974) (in effect at the time of the collision), and that the violation was a contributing cause of the collision. On appeal, Great Lakes challenges this finding, as well as two other rulings made by the district court.
60 The Pilot Rules for Inland Waters, in force in February of 1975, required that 61 [w]hen any pipe line or swinging dredge shall have given an approaching vessel or tow the signal that the channel is clear, the dredge shall straighten out within the cut for the passage of the vessel or tow. 62 33 C.F.R. Sec. 80.26(c) (1974) (no longer in effect). The district court held that Great Lakes violated that regulation because, instead of straightening out and bringing the line of the dredge so that it was parallel to the channel, the leverman of the dredge brought the bow closer to the bank of the river (and thus farther from the center of the channel). Great Lakes argues that the trial judge misinterpreted the regulation and that even if there was a violation of the regulation the district court incorrectly applied the rule in The Pennsylvania, 86 U.S. (19 Wall.) 125, 22 L.Ed. 148 (1874), to shift the burden to Great Lakes to disprove that the violation was related to the accident.
63 Both Chevron and Great Lakes (and Self in support of Chevron on this issue) argue that the plain language of the rule supports their positions. Chevron argues that the words straighten out in the cut, or the channel, means just that--straighten out instead of lie at an angle. Great Lakes on the other hand argues that if the rule intended to require that a dredge be parallel to the channel, it would have so stated. After hearing testimony on the meaning of Sec. 80.26(c), the trial judge determined that straighten out in the cut meant straighten out to be parallel to the line of the cut. The court then found that Great lakes violated that rule. While a finding of statutory fault is primarily a factual issue governed by the clearly erroneous standard, Orange Beach Water, Sewer and First Protection Authority v. M/V Alva, 680 F.2d 1374, 1380 (11th Cir.1982), we must review the district court's ruling to ensure that it did not misinterpret the meaning of the rule. 64 Great Lakes argues that the district court's interpretation that the rule means parallel to the channel is in conflict with the Coast Guard's interpretation of the rule; Great Lakes argues that we must defer to the agency's interpretation of its own rule. The agency interpretation that Great Lakes advances is the formal report made by the Coast Guard following its investigation into the collision. Great Lakes argues that in the report's conclusions, no mention was made of a violation of Sec. 80.26(c), and this constitutes an interpretation by the Coast Guard that the rule did not mean parallel to the channel and thus the rule was not violated. 11 We note that, as Great Lakes concedes, the legal conclusion that Great Lakes did not violate the rule is inadmissible evidence. See Smith v. Ithaca Corporation, 612 F.2d 215, 223 (5th Cir.1980). We decline to take Great Lakes' invitation to construe the absence of any mention of Sec. 80.26(c) as a formal agency interpretation of that rule. This case is quite different from cases in which an agency has formally interpreted a rule, or has promulgated an interpretation in the Code of Federal Regulations. See, e.g., Allen M. Campbell Company General Contractors v. Lloyd Wood Construction Co., 446 F.2d 261 (5th Cir.1971). In this case, we have only the Coast Guard's silence, which we will not take to be a formal interpretation that straighten out in the cut does not mean parallel to the channel. 65 In the absence of any formal interpretation by the Coast Guard of the meaning of Sec. 80.26(c), we find that the district court reasonably relied on the testimonial evidence presented by a number of witnesses, including Coast Guard officials and a Great Lakes employee, to the effect that they would interpret the rule to mean parallel to the channel. Great Lakes cites a number of cases involving facts very similar to those here where the courts did not find any fault in a dredge swinging its bow out of the channel. See, e.g., The Ditmar Koel, 65 F.2d 555 (5th Cir.1933); The Freeport, 99 F.2d 842 (4th Cir.1938). None of the cited cases, however, involved an interpretation of Sec. 80.26, and there was no suggestion in any of the cases that there was a then-existing rule that the dredge arguably violated. Here, we have a rule that requires a dredge to straighten out in the cut. After considering the rule and the testimony, we affirm the district court's interpretation that the rule means parallel to the channel, and that Great Lakes violated the rule. 12
66 Having affirmed the district court's determination that Great Lakes violated 33 C.F.R. Sec. 80.26(c) (1974), we must now consider the applicability of the rule set out in The Pennsylvania, 86 U.S. (19 Wall.) 125, 22 L.Ed. 148 (1874), to the facts of this case. In The Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court held that when a ship involved in a collision is in violation of a statutory rule designed to prevent collisions, the burden shifts to that ship to disprove that the violation was a contributing cause of the collision. Specifically, the Court wrote: 67 The liability for damages is upon the ship or ships whose fault caused the injury. But when, as in this case, a ship at the time of a collision is in actual violation of a statutory rule intended to prevent collisions, it is no more than a reasonable presumption that the fault, if not the sole cause, was at least a contributory cause of the disaster. In such a case the burden rests upon the ship of showing not merely that her fault might not have been one of the cases, or that it probably was not, but that it could not have been. Such a rule is necessary to enforce obedience to the mandate of the statute. 68 Id. at 136, 22 L.Ed.2d at 151. In that case, the Court held that although the steamship Pennsylvania was primarily responsible for its collision with the bark Mary R. Troop, the bark was also liable because of its violation of a rule requiring the use of foghorns when underway in fog. 69 Since its inception over one hundred years ago, The Pennsylvania rule has increasingly come under attack, with courts and commentators terming the rule harsh, Board of Commissioners v. M/V Farnsum, 574 F.2d 289, 297 (5th Cir.1978), and drastic, G. Gilmore & C. Black, The Law of Admiralty 494 (2d ed. 1975). The harshness of the rule is clear when viewed in light of the pre-Reliable Transfer rule of The Schooner Catharine, requiring equal division of damages among joint tortfeasors. See The Pennsylvania, 86 U.S. (19 Wall.) at 138, 22 L.Ed. at 152. Prior to Reliable Transfer, a ship that violated a rule but could not overcome The Pennsylvania burden would be liable for an equal share of the damages caused by a collision, even though the violation only marginally contributed to the collision. Critics have advocated the rule's abolition, see Tetley, The Pennsylvania Rule--An Anachronism? The Pennsylvania Judgment--An Error? 13 J.Mar.L. & Com. 127 (1982), and courts, including the former Fifth Circuit, have ensured that The Pennsylvania burden is not insurmountable, see Compania de Maderas de Caibarien v. The Queenston Heights, 220 F.2d 120, 122-23 (5th Cir.1955). 70 Great Lakes goes beyond criticizing The Pennsylvania rule, however, and argues that the rule has been overturned by the Supreme Court in United States v. Reliable Transfer Co. See supra at 1545. In support of this claim, Great Lakes cites a Ninth Circuit case which includes language suggesting that The Pennsylvania decision was overruled by Reliable Transfer. See People of the State of California v. Italian Motorship Ilice, 534 F.2d 836, 840 (9th Cir.1976). Great Lakes, however, misunderstands the effect of Reliable Transfer and misreads the Ninth Circuit's Ilice decision, which expressly refused to disturb an application of The Pennsylvania rule by the district court in that case. Id. 71 What Great Lakes misunderstands, and what the Ninth Circuit noted, is that the adoption of comparative fault by the Supreme Court in Reliable Transfer did nothing to overturn The Pennsylvania rule, but instead simply eased the rule's harshness. 13 Prior to Reliable Transfer, a ship unable to overcome The Pennsylvania rule bore an equal portion of the liability; after Reliable Transfer, a ship that violated a statutory rule is only liable in proportion to the comparative degree of fault for the accident. 72 To make clear what the rule set out in The Pennsylvania is still viable, we note that The Pennsylvania involved presumptions and burdens of proof, while the Reliable Transfer case involved divisions of liability. The goals underlying The Pennsylvania rule--a concern that maritime rules be strictly observed--were not in the least disturbed by the Reliable Transfer decision. The clear general rule is that the navigational rules are 'rigorously enforced' and strictly interpreted. Garrett v. Higgenbotham, 800 F.2d 1537, 1540 n. 6 (11th Cir.1986) (citing Belden v. Chase, 150 U.S. 674, 698, 14 S.Ct. 264, 271, 37 L.Ed. 1218 (1893)). Masters [of ships] are bound to obey the rules, and entitled to rely on the assumption that they will be obeyed.... Belden, 150 U.S. at 699, 14 S.Ct. at 272. The need to strictly enforce maritime rules is as strong today as it was in 1874, and the The Pennsylvania decision announced one hundred years ago still furthers that purpose. We thus find that the district court appropriately applied The Pennsylvania rule to this case, and we affirm the district court's finding that Great Lakes did not meet its burden under that rule. 14 B. Exclusion of Commander Cavallero's Deposition 73 Great Lakes challenges the failure of the district court to admit into evidence at least portions of a deposition taken by the parties of Coast Guard Commander Samuel Cavallero. Commander Cavallero was the investigating officer who prepared the formal Coast Guard report on the collision. See supra at 1552-1553. The report, although not its conclusions, were admitted; the trial judge refused to admit the deposition. 74 When Great Lakes attempted to have the deposition read into evidence, Chevron objected and argued that the deposition was all hearsay. The trial judge decided to review the deposition overnight. See Record, Vol. 27 at 148-53. The following morning, after reading most of the deposition, the trial judge ruled that the deposition could not, in its entirety, be admitted; he stated that the great majority of it is hearsay. He did admit all exhibits that were properly identified in the deposition. See Record, Vol. 28 at 32. On appeal, Great Lakes argues that the judge committed error by refusing to admit the deposition. 75 We have reviewed the challenged deposition in its entirety, and agree with the district court's conclusion that most of the deposition is hearsay. On appeal, Great Lakes points to specific small portions of the deposition that would arguably be admissible. Great Lakes, however, did not bring any of these passages to the attention of the district court, and made no requests to admit specific portions. When a document a party seeks to admit is full of inadmissible material, it is incumbent on the party to specifically note the admissible sections. The district court cannot be expected to wade through a 129-page deposition pulling out the handful of admissible exchanges in the document. We affirm the refusal of the district court to admit the deposition in its entirety, and we hold that Great Lakes cannot attempt on appeal to gain the admission of specific passages when Great Lakes did not present those passages to the district court. If any of the passages were vitally important to Great Lakes' defense, as they claim on appeal, they should have raised them to the district court. A district court will almost always be willing to consider specific sections of a document that is not admissible in its entirety. C. Great Lakes' Claim for Indemnity 76 Great Lakes challenges the district court's order, entered before the trial, granting Chevron's motion for summary judgment on Great Lakes' claim for indemnity from Chevron. At the time the motion was granted, Great Lakes argued that it might be held liable based only on a technical finding of unseaworthiness, and that in such a case Great Lakes had a right to indemnity from Chevron based on the concepts of active and passive negligence. The district court rejected this argument, and granted Chevron's motion. Great Lakes retained, of course, a right to contribution from Chevron. 77 In Loose v. Offshore Navigation, Inc., 670 F.2d 493 (5th Cir.1982), the new Fifth Circuit considered arguments similar to those presented here by Great Lakes. As that court indicated, the active-passive negligence doctrine was a device aimed at easing the burden of the equally-divided-damages rule of The Schooner Catherine. As discussed above, however, the Supreme Court rejected that rule in favor of comparative fault in United States v. Reliable Transfer, 421 U.S. 397, 95 S.Ct. 1708, 44 L.Ed.2d 251 (1975). The Fifth Circuit noted that it is difficult to see the need for the active-passive indemnification rule in a comparative fault system. Loose, 670 F.2d at 501-02. That court abolished the active-passive negligence rule. We agree with this reasoning, and hold that in an admiralty case where the district judge assesses the relative degrees of fault, there is no place for the active-passive negligence doctrine. A tortfeasor only passively negligent will presumably bear a smaller percentage of the fault for an injury. If, because of other rules and obligations, a passively negligent tortfeasor initially pays more than its share, it can seek contribution from the more active tortfeasor. In the case below, the district court granted partial summary judgment on the issue of indemnity, and left the possibility of contribution available. We affirm the district court on this point.