Court Opinion

ID: 9461122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:06:20.522881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:54.117767
License: Public Domain

MOORE, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent.
In my opinion, the fallacy underlying the conclusion reached by the majority is to be found in its assumption that the function of the steel bands was to enable longshoremen to use them as a grip for their hooks in endeavoring to move a 300 pound container from one position to another — hence, an “intended use.” But “intended” by whom is the real question.
The majority holds that evidence showing that it is customary for longshoremen to place their hooks around the steel bands binding certain cargo and to use the bands for hauling the cargo is sufficient to raise a jury question on whether this was an “intended” use for the bands. I am unable to agree with this conclusion. *473The duty of a shipowner is “to furnish a vessel and appurtenances reasonably fit for their intended use.” Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc., 362 U.S. 539, 550, 80 S.Ct. 926, 933, 4 L.Ed.2d 941 (1960). In countless cases involving claims of unseaworthiness, evidence of custom has been introduced to show .that a ship was reasonably fit. E. g., Nuzzo v. Rederi, A/S Wallenco, 304 F.2d 506 (2d Cir. 1962). Custom need not in all instances be conclusive on the issue of reasonableness, but it is evidence thereof. Id. at 510. I cannot, however, ascribe to the view that because longshoremen customarily use devices in a certain manner, this use thereby becomes an intended one. The intended.use must be determined with reference to the shipper and not to the Cargo-handling practices that longshoremen may have developed. The shipowner ought not to be charged with having intended a use merely because that use has become the custom, at least in the absence of direct evidence that the shipowner knew of the practice and acquiesced in it.
The cases cited by the majority, by and large, use evidence of custom to show reasonableness, not intended use. Of the decisions in this Circuit cited by the majority, only Shenker v. United States, 322 F.2d 622 (2d Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 376 U.S. 907, 84 S.Ct. 659, 11 L.Ed.2d 606 (1964), used evidence of custom to show intended use. But in that case the plaintiff was merely walking on top of a hatch when he tripped over some loose dunnage and was injured. Quoting the findings of the district judge, the court found that
[I]n walking on the hatch Shenker and Judice were giving it an intended use because they “were following a customary practice” that was “foreseeable as a likely one by the owner and was consonant with a shipboard procedure recognized as permissible.”
322 F.2d at 626.
I do not deem this language in Shenker to be controlling in this case because it is patently obvious that people must walk on a hatch to accomplish loading and unloading tasks, if not for numerous other reasons. Thus, custom or not, the shipowner must have intended that people walk on the hatch. Here, in contrast, it is by no means obvious that the steel bands tightly binding the cargo were to be used for moving the cargo about the decks.
A case relied upon by the majority and by appellant is Parker v. S/S Dorothe Olendorff, 483 F.2d 375 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 905, 94 S.Ct. 1609, 40 L.Ed.2d 110 (1974). There the plaintiff had also moved cargo by placing his hook around the metal bands and had been injured when one of the bands broke. The court held that since uncontradicted testimony showed that it was a long standing custom to use the bands in this manner, the use became a condition which should have been reasonably anticipated. The plaintiff there was therefore- entitled to an instruction which indicated that use in dragging the cargo was one of the purposes of the hands. 483 F.2d at 379-380.
The issue came before the Court of Appeals upon the failure of the trial court to give a requested charge that if the wire binding the bales was too light for its purpose namely, dragging bales after inserting longshoremen’s hooks into the wire, this fact would make the vessel unseaworthy. The court was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that the trial judge had originally assured counsel that he would give such a charge but changed his mind. The appellate court believed that “one of the intended purposes of the band which broke was to serve as a point of attachment for longshoremen’s hooks during loading.” The court said: “This part of the instruction is crucial because it establishes the legal standard by which the strength of the bands is to be judged.” 483 F.2d at 379. However, the majority seemingly qualified immediately the force of its decision by saying:
While a vessel warrants that every cargo container is adequate to protect *474the cargo and to prevent spillage, common sense indicates that a shipowner does not warrant every part of any cargo container is strong enough to serve as a point of attachment for longshoremen’s hooks or other lifting devices. Thus, the vessel owner is not an insurer against accidents resulting from lifting cargo by metal straps which are not intended for such use. Reed v. M. V. Foylebank, 415 F.2d 838 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 910, 90 S.Ct. 909, 25 L.Ed.2d 91 (1970).
483 F.2d at 379.
In Reed v. M. V. Foylebank, 415 F.2d 838 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 397 U. S. 910, 90 S.Ct. 909, 25 L.Ed.2d 91 (1970), the Fifth Circuit had no difficulty in affirming the dismissal of the libel in a case involving the breaking of a steel band enclosing a crate under the stress of a longshoreman’s hook with which he was pulling the crate into place. However, the court rationalized in terms of operational negligence and held that “The sole proximate cause of appellant’s injury was his own negligent use of the hand hook behind the steel band.” 415 F.2d at 839.
In the instant case, all that this decision can accomplish is to alert shipowners and stevedoring companies to the necessity of posting notices visible to all longshoremen “Do not attach hooks to, or under, steel strapping for any purpose.” An alternative, of course, would be not to accept as cargo any container which did not have an unbreakable device for pulling it.
The fact that a use may have been reasonably anticipated does not make it an intended one. To so hold would rewrite the definition of unseaworthiness contained in Mitchell, supra. Furthermore, shippers cannot be charged with knowledge of every custom of the longshoremen. Common sense surely does not dictate that the metal bands be used for moving cargo. I would, therefore, require the plaintiff to introduce' more than evidence of custom before subjecting a shipowner to potential liability.