Opinion ID: 290004
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Indemnitor Question

Text: 14 It has been settled law since Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946), affirming Sieracki v. Seas Shipping Co., 149 F.2d 98 (3 Cir. 1945), that a shipowner owes to a longshoreman engaged in unloading the same non-delegable duty to provide a seaworthy vessel as a place to work as is owed to a seaman. This liability without fault to compensate for injuries caused by unseaworthiness, however, gives rise to a right of indemnity in favor of the vessel and its owner from stevedores who, by rendering unsafe and unworkmanlike services to the ship, have created the condition of unseaworthiness for which the ship and owner have been held liable. Ryan Stevedoring Co. v. Pan-Atlantic Corp., 350 U.S. 124, 76 S.Ct. 232, 100 L.Ed. 133 (1956). The right of indemnity applies not only to the manner of performance of services but also to the quality of equipment used. Weyerhaeuser S.S. Co. v. Nacirema Operating Co., 355 U.S. 563, 78 S.Ct. 438, 2 L.Ed.2d 491 (1958). Indemnity applies even when the stevedore uses the ship's own unseaworthy equipment and thereby brings into play its existing unseaworthy condition. Crumady v. The Joachim Hendrik Fisser, 358 U.S. 423, 79 S.Ct. 445, 3 L.Ed.2d 413 (1959). 15 The right of indemnification is not defeated by the shipowner's own negligence, Weyerhaeuser S.S. Co. v. Nacirema Operating Co., supra, and it does not depend upon any privity of contract between the shipowner and the warrantor of workmanlike service. Waterman Steamship Corporation v. Dugan & McNamara, 364 U.S. 421, 81 S.Ct. 200, 5 L.Ed.2d 169 (1960); Crumady v. The Joachim Hendrik Fisser, supra. Nor is the warranty lessened or avoided by the absence of negligence on the part of the warrantor who furnished the equipment which caused the condition of unseaworthiness. Italia Societa per Azioni di Navigazione v. Oregon Stevedoring Co., 376 U.S. 315, 84 S.Ct. 748, 11 L.Ed. 2d 732 (1964). Moreover, this indemnity contract, implied in maritime law, runs not only from stevedores but from shippers whose manner of packaging their merchandise produces a condition of unseaworthiness, Simpson Timber Co. v. Parks, 390 F.2d 353 (9 Cir. 1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 858, 89 S.Ct. 126, 21 L.Ed.2d 127 (1968), and from ship repairers. Grigsby v. Coastal Marine Service of Texas, Inc., 412 F.2d 1011, 1040 (5 Cir. 1969); McLaughlin v. Trelleborgs Angfartygs A/B, 408 F.2d 1334 (2 Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 395 U.S. 946, 89 S.Ct. 2020, 23 L.Ed.2d 464 (1969). In short, the vessel is entitled to indemnity from whatever third party causes the condition of unseaworthiness producing the injury. 16 The insurer defending the Port Commission concluded correctly that the Port Commission owed a duty to indemnify the vessel and its owner, Ocean Transport. There was no dispute that use of the Port Commission's defective crane was relied upon as creating the condition of unseaworthiness. The Port Commission, therefore, owed Ocean Transport a clear duty to indemnify against Williams' unseaworthiness claim. It acknowledged that duty in writing and undertook the defense of the action on Ocean Transport's behalf.