Court Opinion

ID: 9858909
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 17:11:51.13023+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:57:50.784942
License: Public Domain

DIXON, Justice
(dissenting).
I must respectfully dissent.
It is not the result reached that appears to be erroneous, but the way in which the majority reaches its result.
With no apparent necessity, we hold that our constitutional right and duty to review the law and the facts1 is wholly inoperative in Jones Act and F.E.L.A. cases. This court has never reached that conclusion before. Neither has any federal appellate court that we have found.
The question is: in a Jones Act case, does a jury verdict in a Louisiana district court attain the “untouchable” status of a common law jury verdict, or can the Louisiana appellate courts proceed to exercise their constitutional function and examine the evidence to determine whether its supports the verdict, with due regard to the “much discretion” which must be left to the jury? C.C. 1934.
The majority does examine the evidence in order to reach the conclusion that the Court of Appeal “properly refused to disturb its (the jury’s) conclusion on the merits.” It is probable that a similar examination of the evidence on quantum would lead us to the conclusion that the jury’s award of damages is not excessive, according to Louisiana standards. But we should not abandon any part of the appellate function of Louisiana courts until we are required to do so.
Certainly not standing for the proposition (that the Louisiana constitutional provisions for appellate review are to be ignored in Jones Act cases) is the only Louisiana Supreme Court case cited by the majority— Macomber v. De Bardeleben Coal Co., Inc., 200 La. 633, 8 So.2d 624. In the Macomber case, the Court of Appeal had reversed a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff in a Jones Act case. The Louisiana Supreme Court examined the evidence for the reason *57that “unless the conclusion reached by the jury was manifestly erroneous, the Court of Appeal was not warranted in reversing the jury’s verdict.” 8 So.2d at 630. The jury verdict was reinstated after the court examined the evidence and found the verdict not to be “manifestly erroneous.” This is not the common law test, nor the federal test in maritime injury and F.E.L.A. cases. If there is some evidence, or any evidence to support the jury verdict, the federal rule is that the verdict must stand.
None of the United States Supreme Court cases cited by the majority dealt precisely with the situation before us. None of them considered the force of a state constitutional provision defining the power and duty of the state appellate courts. Those considering the appellate power of review of a jury verdict seem to have assumed that the power of review in the common law state coúrt systems and the federal system are the same.
The one United States Supreme Court case involving differences in jury practice like those to be found in the Louisiana system is Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Co. v. Bombolis, 241 U.S. 211, 36 S.Ct. 595, 60 L.Ed. 961. Bombolis was an F.E.L.A. case tried in the Minnesota state court. Under the Minnesota Constitution and statutes, after a jury has had a case for more than twelve hours without a unanimous verdict, ten of the twelve jurors can concur in a verdict. To this procedure the defendant objected, arguing that the defendant was entitled, under the Seventh Amendment of the United States Constitution, to a unanimous verdict according to the common law. Chief Justice White disposed of this contention, pointing out that the Seventh Amendment applies only to proceedings in the courts of the United States. The rest of the Bombolis opinion, it is true, has no vitality today, for Chief Justice White went to exaggerated lengths to explain what was “completely and conclusively * * * settled” — the first Ten Amendments “are not concerned with state action, and deal only with Federal action.” 241 U.S. at 217, 36 S.Ct. at 596, 60 L.Ed. at 963. Nevertheless, the case has not been overruled, and must be considered authoritative, at least for its peculiar facts, which are like those before us.
Bombolis comes much closer to touching the issue before us than the cases cited in the majority opinion. Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645, 66 S.Ct. 740, 90 L.Ed. 916, was an action under 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, brought in the state courts. The Missouri Supreme Court reversed a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff, holding that there was no substantial evidence to support the submission of the case to the jury. That court was reversed by the United States Supreme Court, which said: “We hold, however, that there was sufficient evidence of negligence * * *59to justify the submission of the case to the jury and to require appellate courts to abide by the verdict rendered by the jury.” 327 U.S. at 652, 66 S.Ct. at 743, 90 L.Ed. at 922. If the Lavender decision was concerned with a difference between the state and federal systems over the impregnability of a jury verdict, it does not appear in the report of the case.
Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., 352 U.S. 500, 77 S.Ct. 443, 1 L.Ed.2d 493, did not in any way discuss a conflict between state and federal practice on appeal. Rogers and Lavender involve the same issues, and are both from the Supreme Court of Missouri. In both, the question was whether there was sufficient evidence to give the case to the jury. The majority said, “We think that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury finding for the petitioner.” 352 U.S. at 503, 77 S.Ct. at 447, 1 L.Ed.2d at 497. Justice Frankfurter dissented, saying: “ * * * this Court should not be reviewing decisions in which the sole issue is the sufficiency of the evidence for submission to the jury.” 352 U.S. at 526, 77 S.Ct. at 461, 1 L.Ed.2d at 521. Justice Harlan, in his dissent, also saw the case as involving only a question as to the sufficiency of the evidence.
The only question decided in McAllister v. Magnolia Petroleum Co., 357 U.S. 221, 78 S.Ct. 1201, 2 L.Ed.2d. 1272, was whether the three year prescriptive period provided by Congress in the Jones Act, or the Texas two year prescriptive period for an unseaworthiness claim would be applicable when the two claims were joined in one action, as they must be if the injured seaman is to utilize fully his remedies for personal injury. It is only by inference, if then, that McAllister can be considered applicable to the case before us.
Atlantic & Gulf Stevedores v. Ellerman Lines, 369 U.S. 355, 82 S.Ct. 780, 7 L.Ed.2d 798, was tried in the federal district court, and came up through the federal system. No question of state law seems to have been involved. The Seventh Amendment was mentioned, but just barely.
Tennant v. Peoria & P. U. R. Co., 321 U.S. 29, 64 S.Ct. 409, 88 L.Ed. 520, was likewise tried in the federal district court. A judgment n. o. v. had been granted, and the Supreme Court reversed, saying the courts are not free to reweigh the evidence and set aside the jury verdict merely because the jury could have drawn different inferences or conclusions or because judges feel that other results are more reasonable.
Ferguson v. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., 352 U.S. 521, 77 S.Ct. 457, 1 L.Ed.2d 511, was also tried in a federal district court, and there was no majority opinion. The United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd *61Circuit, having reversed the jury verdict, was in turn reversed by the Supreme Court, because the jury could have concluded that negligence of the employer (“even the slightest” under the statute) contributed to the injury of the ship’s baker.
Similarly, Waldron v. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., 386 U.S. 724, 87 S.Ct. 1410, 18 L.Ed.2d 482, involved (in the words of the majority opinion) : “The single legal question presented by this case is whether a vessel is unseawo’rthy when its officers assign too few crewmen to perform a particular task in a safe and prudent manner.” 87 S.Ct. at 1410.
Brown v. Western Railway of Alabama, 338 U.S. 294, 70 S.Ct. 105, 94 L.Ed. 100, did involve a Georgia rule of practice requiring the allegations of the pleading to be construed “most strictly against the pleader.” The United States Supreme Court construed the allegations of the complaint itself, and found, contrary to the Georgia courts, that a fair construction of the pleading stated a cause of action. The majority opinion found that this over-exacting local requirement unduly infringed upon the assertion of a “federally created” right.
No such disrespect of the law of the land (Justice Black’s phrase in the Brown case,' supra) cán be found in this case if we exercise our constitutional obligation to review the facts to determine whether the verdict is grossly excessive. The majority opinion dispels any such thought when it holds that items of damages which plaintiffs might claim under C.C. 2315 (the State wrongful death statute) greatly expand what might be justifiably awarded in a Jones Act case.
The history of F.E.L.A. cases and maritime injury cases teaches that the United States Supreme Court has been a jealous guardian of the rights Congress granted to seamen and railroaders — even to the point of granting writs to review evidence. That history parallels the history of workmen’s compensation cases in the Louisiana Supreme Court, which leaves no room for any doubt that the congressional acts could be-administered as well under the Louisiana system as under the common law system.
As seen from the jurisprudence reviewed,a case has not been made for imposing the common law jury system upon Louisiana. True, modern federal-state relations justify pessimism on the part of the state in the event of a conflict. But where the conflict ? No one has yet demonstrated that congressional intent in seamen’s and F.E.L.A. cases is incompatible with the Louisiana constitutional scheme of judicial administration. Until there is such demonstration, it is hard to understand why the Louisiana appellate *63method should suffer this common law transplant.
We should, therefore, not anticipate unnecessary federal disregard of state constitutions. We should follow our basic law and review the evidence to determine whether the jury abused its discretion in fixing damages.
Rehearing denied.
SUMMERS, J., is of the opinion a rehearing should be granted being of the present opinion the result is correct, only.
BARHAM,
Justice concurs in the denial of the rehearing being of the opinion, however, that the action and our review were controlled by the Jones Act. The total award of damages was not excessive under the standards of that Act, although the individual allotments in isolation were excessive. The majority incorrectly applied the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to this maritime death. If the Lands Act were applied we would be required to remand in order that the trial court appropriately apply the state remedy under C.C. art. 2315 which is incorporated in a proceeding under the Lands Act.
DIXON, J., is of the opinion that a rehearing should be granted.

. “The Supreme Court has control of, and general supervisory jurisdiction over all inferior courts. * * *
“In civil cases, its appellate jurisdiction extends to both the law and the facts. In criminal matters, its appellate jurisdiction extends to questions of law only.” La.Const., Article 7 § 10. «* * *
All appeals of which the courts of appeal have appellate jurisdiction as provided in this Section shall be on both the law and the facts, except where the appeal is limited to questions of law only by any other Section of this Constitution.” La. Const., Article 7 § 29.