Court Opinion

ID: 9443780
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:30:29.860739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:36.154755
License: Public Domain

BIGGS, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
The suit at bar is an action in personam in admiralty based on the Jones Act, against the United States. See 46 U.S.C.A. § 741. It is based on the negligence of the shipowner rather than on uuseaworthiness of the vessel, the issue of seaworthiness having been expressly abandoned by the plaintiff.
The shipowner did not have control of the dock but I cannot bring myself to the conclusion that the master of the “Moul-trie” did not have a duty to the libellant, as a ward of the admiralty, to exercise reasonable diligence to make sure that the walkway, the customary way of egress from the vessel to the shore, was safe. If the master had exercised even slight care he would have been aware of the defect and could have warned Paul of the danger.
The pit into which Paul fell was within one hundred feet of the bow of the vessel, unguarded and unlighted. The accident occurred at night. Though Paul was going on shore leave he nonetheless was in the course of his employment. See Marceau v. Great Lakes Transit Corp., 2 Cir., 1945, 146 F.2d 416, certiorari denied 324 U.S. 872, 65 S.Ct. 1018, 89 L.Ed. 1426, and O’Donnell v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 1943, 318 U.S. 36, 42-43, 63 S.Ct. 488, 87 L.Ed. 596. Cf. John Stewart & Son, Ltd. v. Longhurst, Ann.Cas.1917D, p. 196 (under a workmen’s compensation statute), and Todahl v. Sudden & Christenson, 9 Cir., 1925, 5 F.2d 462. Since the ship’s master did not fulfill what I think was his duty to the seaman I conclude that the United States should be liable to him for damages. See The Iroquois, 1904, 194 U.S. 240, 247, 24 S.Ct. 640, 48 L.Ed. 955; Jones v. Waterman S.S. Corp., 3 Cir., 1946, 155 F.2d 992, 1000; Murphy v. American Barge Line, 3 Cir., 1948, 169 F.2d 61, 64, certiorari denied 335 U.S. 859, 69 S.Ct. 133, 93 L.Ed. 406. Negligence within the purview of the Jones Act is to be construed liberally, bearing in mind that the obligation of a shipowner to his seamen is greater than that of the ordinary employer to his employees. See Koehler v. Presque-Isle Transportation Co., 2d Cir., 1944, 141 F.2d 490, 491.
There is no case in point albeit the principle that the duty of the ship to supply safe egress and ingress was recognized in this circuit in Monteiro v. Paco Tankers, Inc., D.C.E.D.Pa.1950, 93 F.Supp. 93, and affords the substantial basis of the decision in the Marceau case, supra, 146 F.2d 418-*44419. The majority decision rests upon cases in which the plaintiff was a licensee or a business-invitee, and was not a seaman. In this connection see Patrick v. Atlas Knitting Co., 1914, 164 App.Div. 753, 149 N.Y.S. 845, which rules in favor of the plaintiff. For the reasons stated I dissent.