Opinion ID: 663087
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: governing legal principles: the duties of a shipowner

Text: 15 The seminal case in this area is Scindia Steam Navigation Co. v. De Los Santos, 451 U.S. 156, 101 S.Ct. 1614, 68 L.Ed.2d 1 (1981). 4 There the Supreme Court interpreted Congress' 1972 amendment of Sec. 5 of the Act as replacing the old doctrine of seaworthiness, according to which a vessel was generally strictly liable for injuries longshore workers suffered while on board, with a negligence standard that the courts were to develop by applying general land-based doctrines of tort law. The Supreme Court pursued that mission in Scindia. 16 In Scindia the Court recognized at least three distinct duties that a shipowner owes a stevedore (and its longshore employees) under Sec. 5 of the Act, namely, the turnover duty/duty to warn, the active operations duty, and the duty to intervene. Because the duty on which our decision turns is the active operations duty, we essentially limit our discussion thereto. We do pause to note, however, why we believe the district court properly granted Portline summary judgment with respect to the other two duties, both of which Davis alleged Portline breached. The turnover duty/duty to warn applies only at the moment the vessel initially turns control of the ship over to the stevedore, see Kirsch v. Plovidba, 971 F.2d 1026, 1029 (3d Cir.1992), but Davis has not presented any evidence sufficient to show that the hazardous spot on which he fell existed at the time Portline turned the ship over to NorVal (indeed, the evidence strongly suggests the hazard formed only shortly before Davis' slip), or that Portline knew it existed at that point in time. 5 With respect to the duty to intervene, Davis proffered no evidence admissible under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, see Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. at 2553, tending to show that Portline actually knew of the hazard, 6 nor did he cite any duty Portline had to inform itself of the hazard, and hence the duty to intervene did not arise, see Scindia, 451 U.S. at 172, 101 S.Ct. at 1624; Kirsch, 971 F.2d at 1029. 17 As to the active operations duty, Scindia explained that the vessel may be liable if it actively involves itself in the cargo operations and negligently injures a longshoreman, or if it fails to exercise due care to avoid exposing longshoremen to harm from hazards they may encounter in areas, or from equipment, under the active control of the vessel during the stevedoring operation. 451 U.S. at 167, 101 S.Ct. at 1622. This formulation lies in stark contrast to the rule applicable when the vessel does not actively involve itself in the cargo operations, in which event the vessel may rely and depend on the experience and expertise of the stevedore. Thus, for example, under the other two duties the vessel need not supervise or inspect the stevedoring operation to discover and correct dangerous conditions which develop within the cargo areas as a result of those operations. See id. at 168-69, 101 S.Ct. at 1622-23. 18 The active operations duty applies to those areas under the vessel's active control, even if the stevedore shares control with the vessel or if at some earlier time the area was under the stevedore's exclusive control. See Moore v. M.P. Howlett, Inc., 704 F.2d 39, 40-41 (2d Cir.1983) (upholding a jury verdict in favor of a longshore worker who slipped on an obviously greasy, icy deck of a barge-crane which the vessel and stevedore jointly controlled and operated). The duty incorporates general principles of land-based negligence law, Hodges v. Evisea Maritime Co., S.A., 801 F.2d 678, 684 (4th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 933, 107 S.Ct. 1572, 94 L.Ed.2d 764 (1987); see Scindia, 451 U.S. at 165 n. 13, 167, 101 S.Ct. at 1621 n. 13, 1622, and we will repeatedly refer to these principles in the ensuing discussion.