Court Opinion

ID: 9448313
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:31:14.683698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:22.598379
License: Public Domain

HAYNSWORTH, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I would affirm.
There was no direct testimony that Mason did not grip the handrails of the ladder, as he testified he did. There could be no direct testimony on the point, aside from Mason’s own, for Mason was alone at the time. The jury might reasonably have drawn the inference that he was not holding on to the handrails with each of his hands from the fact of his fall and the extent of his injuries. The handrails are provided as means by which members of the crew could protect themselves from a slip of the foot when descending the ladder. Mason, himself, recognized in his testimony that due care on his part required that he grip them firmly with either hand. He said his foot slipped on the main engine room deck before he had actually placed a foot upon the ladder, but he was approaching it and had already firmly grasped the handrails. If he had done that, the jury might reasonably have concluded that he would not have fallen, or would have checked his fall at the main engine room level and would not have fallen all the way to the deck below. I think the jury could reasonably find that the handrails, properly used, would have served their intended purpose. Of course, the jury might have drawn the other inference too, but ultimate inferences from evidentiary facts are for the jury. Bearing in mind the fact of the fall and the circumstances, there seems to me a permissible inference that Mason was not firmly holding on to the handrails.
On the contributory negligence point, the burden of persuasion was upon the ship’s operator, but that does not mean that the issue may not go to the jury, unless the issue arises upon testimony affirmatively offered by the defense. It can arise from the testimony introduced by the claimant, and, in considering the submissibility of the issue, that testimony should be viewed in the light most favorable to the defense. The jury was not bound to accept Mason’s testimonial assertion that he held on to the handrails. Though there was no direct contradiction of that assertion, because no one was present to give any other testimonial version of the occurrence, the fall and the surrounding circumstances seem to furnish a reasonable basis for an inference that Mason did not hold on to the handrails as he claimed. If that be so, the issue of contributory negligence was properly submitted to the jury.
*34In the familiar situation of the railroad grade crossing accident where the motorist testifies that he looked but did not see the train, the physical cii-cumstances may make his testimonal assertion so incredible that the court should withdraw the plaintiff’s case from the jury. If the physical facts are not conclusively persuasive of the incredibility of the testimonial assertion, the inference is one for the jury. Whether the physical circumstances are such as to require, or merely to permit, an inference contrary to the testimonal assertion of the motorist, the inference may be drawn out of the physical circumstances, notwithstanding the fact that there is no direct contradiction of the testimonial assertion.
If our differences were limited to our appraisal of the sufficiency of the evidence to support the submission to the jury of the question of contributory negligence, I would be inclined to defer to the view of my brothers, for a dissent founded upon such differences serves little purpose. I am moved to express my views, however, for the terms of the remand seem to me at variance with the established policies of this court.
At the trial, there was a conflict in the evidence bearing upon the claimed negligence of the ship’s operator and the claimed unseaworthy condition of the ship. There was ample evidence to support a finding that there was no oil on the deck of the blower platform, no oil on the plaintiff’s shoes, no negligence of the ship’s operator, and no unseaworthy condition which contributed to the injury. The jury, to which the whole case was submitted, resolved the issue of primary negligence and unseaworthiness in Mason’s favor, but resolved the issue of contributory negligence against him and found damages in his favor in the sum of only $2,000. His principal ground of appeal is inadequacy of the damages. His attorney asserts that Mason’s damages, ■including loss of wages, would conservatively be estimated in the neighborhood of $35,000. There is much reason to suppose that the jury did in fact compromise the issues of liability and of damages. The verdict, on the whole, was much more favorable to the defense than to Mason. There is nothing to demonstrate that the jury which heard the case, if the issue of contributory negligence had been withdrawn from it, would have found the ship at fault and have awarded Mason his damages in full measure. Any jury, which had the case submitted in full to it, might well find that the ship was without fault and deny any recovery to Mason.
If there is to be a retrial, I think the retrial should be on the whole case, so that the issues of liability and damages may be determined by the same jury at the same sitting. This has been the consistent position of this court in cases which I find altogether comparable. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Bennett, 4 Cir., 251 F.2d 934; Southern Railway Company v. Madden, 4 Cir., 235 F.2d 198; Southern Railway Company v. Madden, 4 Cir., 224 F.2d 320; Schuerholz v. Roach, 4 Cir., 58 F.2d 32.
From repeated reference to the fact that the ship’s operator did not appeal from the judgment against it, there is intimation that it may have thereby prejudiced its right to a retrial of the whole case, if it is to be retried at all. On the conflicting evidence, there was no basis for an appeal by the ship’s operator. It had no alternative, except to support the judgment against it for the very modest amount of money awarded to Mason by the jury. The fact that it did not take a baseless appeal should have no adverse effect upon its rights at a subsequent trial. Nor should the absence of a cross appeal becloud the fact that the jury which heard the case may have tailored its findings on the issues of negligence and contributory negligence to fit a predetermined damage award, an award which Mason claims to be shockingly inadequate.
Under these circumstances, if there is to be a new trial of any issue, I think the issue of liability, as well as of damages, should be retried and both issues submitted to another jury.