Court Opinion

ID: 9472180
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:52:13.956954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:47.564592
License: Public Domain

POLITZ, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Being convinced that the majority opinion is not consistent with Scindia Steam *1128Nav. Co. v. De Los Santos, 451 U.S. 156, 101 S.Ct. 1614, 68 L.Ed.2d 1 (1981), and decisions of this court, I respectfully dissent.
Philip C. Wild, Jr. was a boilermaker employed by Dixie Machine and Metal Works, Inc. as part of a crew engaged in repairing the Lykes’ vessel DOCTOR LYKES. Wild was injured when he slipped or fell from a convertible guardrail/ladder which served to bridge the gap between the upper deck of the vessel and the ship’s elevator when the elevator was in the stowed position. When stowed the elevator was five to six feet below the upper deck. The majority opinion carefully details the method by which this ship’s appurtenance was converted from a guardrail around a platform adjacent to the elevator to a ladder permitting access to the lowered elevator. The record establishes beyond question that the guardrail/ladder was bolted into place as a part of the vessel, that it was regularly and routinely used by the ship’s crew and repairmen as a ladder to climb to or from the stowed elevator, that it was the only ladder available for that purpose at the time of Wild’s accident, that the elevator was in a lowered position when the Dixie repair crew began repair work and that the ship’s crew lowered the elevator. In addition, the record fully supports the trial judge’s finding that the guardrail/ladder was defective and unreasonably dangerous as a ladder. And, as the majority notes, the record also “tends to establish Lykes’ actual knowledge that the device when used as a ladder was dangerous.” Therefore, when Lykes delivered the ship over to Dixie, it delivered a ship with actual knowledge that the guardrail/ladder, when used as a ladder, was dangerously defective.
In my opinion, Scindia and its progeny do not excuse the vessel owner from liability in the factual situation presented. As we noted in Pluyer v. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., 664 F.2d 1243, 1246 (5th Cir.1982), Scindia was “concerned only with the liability of the vessel for dangerous conditions which develop during stevedoring operations.” In the present case, as in Pluyer, we are concerned with the vessel’s liability for “hazards that antedate or are coincident with the commencement of cargo operations.” Id. In the evaluation of a vessel’s liability for hazards which antedate the commencement of repair work, the duties of the vessel owner are clear:
This duty extends at least to exercising ordinary care under the circumstances to have the ship and its equipment in such condition that an expert and experienced stevedore will be able by the exercise of reasonable care to carry on its cargo operations with reasonable safety to persons and property, and to warning the stevedore of any hazards on the ship or with respect to its equipment' that are known to the vessel or should be known to it in the exercise of reasonable care, that would likely be encountered by the stevedore in the course of his cargo operations and that are not known by the stevedore and would not be obvious to or anticipated by him if reasonably competent in the performance of his work. The shipowner thus has a duty with respect to the condition of the ship’s gear, equipment, tools and work space to be used in the stevedoring operations; and if he fails at least to warn the stevedore of hidden danger which would have been known to him in the exercise of reasonable care, he has breached his duty and is liable if his negligence causes injury to a longshoreman.
Scindia, at 101 S.Ct. 1622 (citations omitted).
The unreasonably dangerous condition found by the trial court was directly attributable to Lykes who delivered a vessel with a built-in convertible guardrail/ladder which was defective and hazardous when used as a ladder. The vessel owner is held to know the dangerous conditions resulting from defects in the vessel, its gear or equipment. For several days, while “the captain, chief engineer, first assistance engineer, [and] possibly second assistant engineer” were aboard, various repairmen used the ladder. No other means of traversing to and from the elevator was fur*1129nished by the vessel or by Wild’s employer. Wild used what was there to be used.
I part with the majority when it requires that Wild prove not only that the vessel owner knew of the hazard but that it also knew that it could not rely on Dixie to remedy that hazard. This proof requirement is appropriate for hazards which arise during repairs but is not appropriate for hazards which exist before repairs begin. Despite a suggestion by the majority, it cannot be gainsaid that the defective condition was in existence when the DOCTOR LYKES was delivered over to Dixie. Notwithstanding its knowledge that the guardrail/ladder was unreasonably dangerous when used as a ladder, and that it was regularly and routinely used as a ladder when the elevator was lowered, Lykes issued no warning to Dixie.
Under these circumstances, I am persuaded that the vessel owner breached a duty to Wild recognized in Scindia and not foreclosed by its teachings. I disagree with the majority that Pluyer is inapposite; I consider it directly in point. Pluyer, like the instant case, involved a defective condition 'which existed when the vessel was turned over to the stevedore. Pluyer, like the instant case, involved a defective ladder, albeit a portable one, furnished by the vessel. In both cases the defective ladder caused the injury. The vessel owner was held accountable in Pluyer. The vessel owner in the case at bar should likewise be held accountable.
I respectfully dissent.