Court Opinion

ID: 9476753
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:04:28.293227+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:29.358325
License: Public Domain

GARZA, Circuit Judge,
concurring specially:
I write separately because I fear that the owner of the GARIJAK, Julius Collins, did not get a fair trial on the issue of whether or not he acted as a reasonable man would have acted based on the information that was available to him. Collins’ defense was that he did not pay maintenance and cure because he did not believe that Morales had been injured while on board the GARIJAK. The fact that Morales was due maintenance *1362and cure has been foreclosed by the jury finding that he was injured while on board the GARIJAK. The jury’s verdict in this regard was apparently reached on his testimony that that is where he slipped and hurt his wrist.
As explained by the majority, the use of the pattern jury instructions by the court below mischaracterized the standard of fault for compensatory damages “as arbitrary and capricious or callous behavior instead of unreasonable behavior.”
As noted by the majority opinion, Julius Collins, the owner, testified that the first he knew of a claim for maintenance and cure by Morales was when he received a letter from an attorney many days after the end of the voyage. The record shows that Collins testified that a few days after the voyage Morales came to the office of the GARIJAK to get his check. Collins personally gave the check to Morales and observed that nothing seemed to be wrong with him. Morales told him he was fine and made no claim of being hurt while aboard the vessel. Morales disputed having received his check from Collins, stating that he got it from a secretary in the office. However, he did admit that he never told the secretary or anybody else there of having been injured on the vessel.
Upon receipt of the letter from Morales’ attorney, Collins testified that he talked to the captain and two of the crew members and that they all told him that they knew nothing about Morales having fallen or hurting his wrist while working aboard the GARIJAK. Collins knew that Morales had stayed on board the vessel for many days after the alleged injury and had continued working. But, as the majority points out, the jury could disbelieve what Collins testified to.
The district court in his charge to the jury told them:
You may only award damages for any failure of the employer to pay maintenance and cure to. the plaintiff if, on the basis of all the facts and opportunities known to and available to the defendant during the time in question, the refusal to pay maintenance and cure was arbitrary and capricious, or in callous disregard of the plaintiff’s claim.
Therefore, the question of whether Collins acted reasonably was never squarely put to the jury. The majority opinion characterizes the failure of the court below to submit the question of Collins’ reasonableness in not paying the claim for maintenance and cure as harmless error because of the higher burden that was placed on Morales.
I believe that a jury would be more apt to find for an owner if the sole question put to them was whether the owner had acted reasonably, than to burden them with deciding whether the owner’s actions were arbitrary and capricious or in callous disregard of the plaintiff’s claim. The attorneys for appellant Collins did not object to the court’s charge in any manner and that forecloses our being able to do anything in this regard.
However, I am writing separately because I would follow the teachings of our opinion in Gaspard v. Taylor Diving & Salvage Co., 649 F.2d 372 (5th Cir.1981).
I believe that where a shipowner has failed to pay maintenance and cure on the basis that he does not believe that the claimant was injured while a seaman on board his vessel, the case should be submitted to a jury in the following manner: 1) whether or not the claimant was actually injured while in the service of the vessel; 2) if the jury finds that he was, the next question should be whether the jury finds that the owner acted reasonably in denying him maintenance and cure because his investigation of the claim indicated that the seaman was not injured on his vessel and therefore he was not responsible for maintenance and cure.
If the jury says that he acted reasonably, the injured seaman is then only entitled to his maintenance and cure. If the jury finds that the owner did not act reasonably, then the jury would reach the question of compensatory damages, and the next inquiry would be whether the unreasonable failure to provide maintenance and cure aggravated the seaman’s condition, and if so, the shipowner is then liable not only for the increased medical expenses and mainte*1363nance that may become necessary, but also for full tort damages that result. The next inquiry would be whether the shipowner, in failing to provide maintenance and cure, has been callous or recalcitrant or arbitrary and capricious. A finding by the jury that he acted in that manner would also allow the jury to answer a question with regard to reasonable attorney’s fees which could be recovered.
My concern is that a shipowner, who after receiving a claim for maintenance and cure, fully investigates the claim and determines from all the facts which he discovered that the claim is not a valid claim, should be allowed to have a jury determine the reasonableness of his action in denying the claim — not that the seaman would not be entitled to maintenance and cure if a jury finds that his claim was valid, but to keep a shipowner from having to pay anything other than maintenance and cure.