Court Opinion

ID: 9443337
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:17:55.157218+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:27.336365
License: Public Domain

HOLMES, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
It is undoubtedly true that a corporate stevedore has the same liability for negligence that an individual stevedore would have in the same circumstances. It is equally true that the law looks to the nature of the work that is being done, and not to who is doing it, in determining liability for a tort. Immunity from such liability is the exception and not the rule. There is no such doctrine as vicarious immunity from liability for torts.
*898It is going a long ways to exempt any member of society from liability for negligently injuring a fellow member. The Carriage of Goods by Sea Act does not exempt anyone from liability for negligence, but expressly binds the carrier properly and carefully to load, handle, and discharge the goods carried. 46 U.S.C.A. § 1303(2).
The right of the ship or carrier to limit its liability for negligence to an amount not exceeding $500 is in derogation of the common law and must be strictly construed. It does not shield an employee, not a party to the bill of- lading, who (for instance) negligently sets fire to or otherwise negligently injuries the cargo. No ship, carrier, or party to the bill of lading, is being sued in this case, but only the corporate stevedore, which is primarily liable under the decision of Reid v. Fargo, 241 U.S. 544, 36 S.Ct. 712, 60 L.Ed. 1156. The Supreme Court held that, upon the libellant’s inability to make the full amount out of the stevedore, it would be entitled to recover against the steamship company the amount of its limited liability, and after that the libellant could go against the express company for any deficiency.
I am satisfied with the above authority; but, for the benefit of those who are not, will discuss the matter a little upon general principles. The appellee owed a duty to the public to keep its stevedoring equipment in a safe condition; the answer admits that it did not do so. Where an agent violates a duty that he owes to a third party, he is personally liable to the latt»-, not by reason of his agency, but upon th<_ ground that he has failed in his common law obligation not to injure another. 3 C.J.S., Agency, § 221. In Smith, Kirkpatrick & Co. v. Colombian Steamship Co., 5 Cir., 88 F.2d 392, 395, this court said: “If respondent be considered a mere forwarding agent it would still be liable for its own negligence, regardless of deviation.”
“The liability of an agent for his own negligence has long been embedded in the law.” Brady v. Roosevelt S. S. Co., 317 U.S. 575, 580, 63 S.Ct. 425, 428, 87 L.Ed. 471. The principle is an ancient one, and is mentioned in Blackstone’s Commentaries. At common law, the carrier’s liability as warehouseman was different from that of a carrier of goods; a fortiori, his liability as stevedore is different from that of a carrier. In Quinn v. Southgate Nelson Corp., 2 Cir., 121 F.2d 190, the Second Circuit held that the liability of the principal for a wrong does not necessarily immunize his agent, that there are numerous instances where dual liabilities are not mutually exclusive, and that a plaintiff may toe lucky enough to have two strings to his bow (citing numerous authorities). In Brady v. Roosevelt S. S. Co., 317 U.S. 575, at page 581, 63 S.Ct. 425 at page 428, 87 L.Ed. 471 the court said: “The withdrawal of the right to sue the agent for his torts would result at times in a substantial dilution of the rights of claimants. * * * Immunity from suit on a cause of action which the law creates cannot be so readily obtained. Cf. Guaranty Trust & S. D. Co. v. Green Cove Springs & Melrose Railroad Co., 139 U.S. 137, 143, 11 S.Ct. 512, 514, 35 L.Ed. 116.”
The bill of lading in this case limited the carrier’s liability in question to $500, but it did not confer upon the carrier the power to diffuse partial dispensations to its negligent stevedores or other agents for their wrongful acts.
Rehearing denied; HOLMES, C. J., dissenting.