Court Opinion

ID: 9816001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 02:33:56.032867+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:49.171485
License: Public Domain

STAPLETON, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I join the opinion of the court. I write separately only because I believe there is an additional, and equally persuasive, reason why § 4.07-1 of the Coast Guard Regulations did not bar the admission of the investigation report in this case. It seems apparent to me that the Secretary, in adopting this regulation, did not intend to prescribe a rule governing the admission of evidence in a court of law.
Section 6301 of Title 46 of the United States Code provides:
§ 6301. Investigation of marine casualties
The Secretary shall prescribe regulations for the immediate investigation of marine casualties under this part to decide, as closely as possible—
(1) the cause of the casualty, including the cause of any death;
(2) whether an act of misconduct, incompetence, negligence, unskillfulness, or willful violation of law committed by any individual licensed, certificated, or documented under part E of this subtitle has contributed to the cause of the casualty, or to a death involved in the casualty, so that appropriate remedial action under chapter 77 of this title [relating to license suspension and revocation proceedings] may be taken;
(3) whether an act of misconduct, incompetence, negligence, unskillfulness, or willful violation of law committed by any person, including an officer, employee, or member of the Coast Guard, contributed to the cause of the casualty, or to a death involved in the casualty;
(4) whether there is evidence that an act subjecting the offender to a civil penalty under the laws of the United States has been committed, so that appropriate action may be undertaken to collect the penalty;
(5) whether there is evidence that a criminal act under the laws of the United States has been committed, so that the matter may be referred to appropriate authorities for prosecution; and
(6) whether there is need for new laws or regulations, or amendment or repeal of existing laws or regulations, to prevent the recurrence of the casualty.
Section 6305 further provides that the Secretary shall prescribe regulations concerning the reports of such investigations and requires that those reports be “made available to the public, except to the extent that they contain information related to the national security.”
Pursuant to these directives, the Secretary has promulgated 46 C.F.R. § 4.07-1, the prefatory section to a Subpart relating to “Investigations.” It provides:
§ 4.07-1 Commandant or District Commander to order investigation.
(a) The Commandant or District Commander upon receipt of information of a marine casualty or accident, will immediately cause such investigation as may be necessary in accordance with the regulations in this part.
(b) The investigations of marine casualties and accidents and the determinations made are for the purpose of taking appropriate measures for promoting safety of life and property at sea, and are not intended to fix civil or criminal responsibility-
(c) The investigation will determine as closely as possible:
(1) The cause of the accident;
*118(2) Whether there is evidence that any failure of material (either physical or design) was involved or contributed to the casualty, so that proper recommendations for the prevention of the recurrence of similar casualties may be made;
(3) Whether there is evidence that any act of misconduct, inattention to duty, negligence or willful violation of the law on the part of any licensed or certificated man contributed to the casualty, so that appropriate proceedings against the license or certificate of such person may be recommended and taken under title 46, U.S.Code, section 239;
(4) Whether there is evidence that any Coast Guard personnel or any representative or employee of any other government agency or any other person caused or contributed to the cause of the casualty; or,
(5) Whether the accident shall be further investigated by a Marine Board of Investigation in accordance with regulations in subpart 4.09.
The purpose of §§ 4.07-l(b) and (c) is to explain, for the benefit of those conducting investigations and those reading and using investigation reports, the limited purposes for which Coast Guard investigations of casualties are conducted. The last clause of § 4.07-l(b) explains that they are “not intended to fix civil or criminal responsibility.” This means, among other things, that the ultimate determination of licensing issues is left to suspension or revocation proceedings, civil penalty issues to civil penalty proceedings, and criminal culpability issues to criminal proceedings. If there was any intent with respect to other civil liability issues, I am confident that the intent was to advise that the ultimate determination of issues of civil liability is reserved for civil judicial proceedings and that the information contained in a Coast Guard investigation report should be evaluated and utilized with the understanding that the focus of the investigation was not on assigning the responsibilities of the participants inter se.
I am also confident that, if the Secretary had meant § 4.07-l(b) to govern the admission of evidence in court, he would have chosen a far less tortuous way of saying so. The models available to him, as he is likely to have been aware, are numerous. See 42 U.S.C. § 2240 (“No report by any licensee [of the NRC] of any incident arising out of or in connection with a licensed activity made pursuant to any requirement of the Commission shall be admitted as evidence in any suit or action for damages growing out of any matter mentioned in such report.”); 49 U.S.C. § 1441(e) (repealed Pub.L. No. 103-272, § 7(b), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1379) (“No part of any report or reports of the National Transportation Safety Board relating to any accident or the investigation thereof, shall be admitted as evidence or used in any suit or action for damages growing out of any matter mentioned in such report or reports.”); 45 U.S.C. § 33 (repealed Pub.L. No. 103-272, § 7(b), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1379) (“[Neither reports of Railroad accidents by the director of locomotive inspection nor reports of his investigation] shall be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any suit or action for damages growing out of any matter mentioned in said report or investigation.”); see also H.R. 1361, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. § 414 (1995) (“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any opinion, recommendation, deliberation, or conclusion contained in a report of a marine casualty investigation conducted under section 6301 of this title with respect to the cause of, or factors contributing to, the casualty set forth in the report of the investigation is not admissible as evidence or subject to discovery in any civil, administrative, or State criminal proceeding arising from a marine casualty, other than with the permission and consent of the Secretary of Transportation, in his or her sole discretion.”).