Court Opinion

ID: 9964855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-05-01 00:00:45.892873+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:44.417670
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30620       Document: 54-1      Page: 1     Date Filed: 04/30/2024

           United States Court of Appeals
                for the Fifth Circuit
                             ____________                           United States Court of Appeals
                                                                             Fifth Circuit

                                                                           FILED
                              No. 23-30620
                                                                       April 30, 2024
                             ____________
                                                                      Lyle W. Cayce
Ronald Kent,                                                               Clerk

                                                        Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                    versus

Southern Towing Company, L.L.C.,

                                         Defendant—Appellee.
               ______________________________

               Appeal from the United States District Court
                  for the Eastern District of Louisiana
                         USDC No. 2:22-CV-26
               ______________________________

Before Jones, Clement, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam: *
       In March 2019, Plaintiff–Appellant Ronald Kent was a deckhand on
the M/V FRANK HOLLOMAN, a tow boat operated by Defendant–
Appellee Southern Towing Company, L.L.C. Kent injured his back while
helping Chris Haggins, the vessel’s first mate, carry a 120-pound diesel pump
from the deck of an empty barge in the vessel’s tow to the deck of the vessel

       _____________________
       *
         Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 23-30620        Document: 54-1       Page: 2      Date Filed: 04/30/2024

                                  No. 23-30620

itself. In briefing, Kent claimed that, while transferring the pump from the
barge to the vessel, the two men placed the pump on the handrail of the
vessel’s catwalk. As the pump rested on the handrail, Haggins removed his
hands from the pump to reposition himself, which caused the weight of the
pump to shift to Kent’s end, resulting in his injury.
       Kent sued Southern Towing for unseaworthiness and Jones Act
negligence, alleging that “[t]here existed insufficient manpower . . . to enable
[the vessel’s] crew to move this pump, with reasonable safety.” See Waldron
v. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., 386 U.S. 724, 724, 87 S. Ct. 1410, 1410 (1967)
(holding that a vessel “is unseaworthy when its officers assign too few
crewmen to perform a particular task in a safe and prudent manner”);
Gautreaux v. Scurlock Marine, Inc., 107 F.3d 331, 335 (5th Cir. 1997) (en banc)
(“A seaman is entitled to recovery under the Jones Act . . . if his employer’s
negligence is the cause, in whole or in part, of his injury.”). The district court
granted summary judgment in favor of Southern Towing after concluding
that the undisputed evidence showed that two men were sufficient to move
the pump.
       The district court did not err by granting summary judgment. The
summary      judgment     evidence—including        Kent’s    own     deposition
testimony—establishes that two people could safely move the pump in
question. Indeed, on appeal Kent admits, contrary to his complaint, that two
men were, in general, sufficient to perform the task of moving the pump. He
argues only that two men were insufficient to perform the particular task of
placing the pump on the handrail for repositioning. Kent cites no case
supporting his argument that his claims should be analyzed at such a granular
level; nor, in any event, does he have proof that two men were insufficient to
perform the particular task of resting the pump on the handrail of the catwalk,
or that Haggins caused the pump to shift when he removed his hands to

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Case: 23-30620      Document: 54-1     Page: 3    Date Filed: 04/30/2024

                               No. 23-30620

reposition himself. Kent thus failed to put forth evidence that Southern
Towing breached a duty of care or that the vessel was unseaworthy.
      The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

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