Court Opinion

ID: 9477107
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:14:06.670816+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:41.826458
License: Public Domain

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I am generally in agreement with Judge Wisdom’s persuasive opinion, but am troubled by the tension, or perhaps outright inconsistency, between many of our opinions in this area. More particularly, it is difficult for me to reconcile our decision in Sohyde Drilling & Marine Co. v. Coastal States Gas Producing Co., 644 F.2d 1132, 1136-37 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1081, 102 S.Ct. 635, 70 L.Ed.2d 615 (1981), with our decisions in Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corp. v. Mobile Drilling Barge, 424 F.2d 684, 691 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 832, 91 S.Ct. 65, 27 L.Ed.2d 64 (1970); Corbitt v. Diamond M. Drilling Co., 654 F.2d 329, 332 (5th Cir.1981); and Theriot v. Bay Drilling Corp., 783 F.2d 527, 538-39 (5th Cir.1986). Sohyde was followed as binding precedent, though seriously questioned, in Houston Oil & Minerals v. American International Tool Co., 827 F.2d 1049, 1052-55 (5th Cir.1987). It may be noted that each of these separate lines of cases seems to proceed without considering the other. Soh-yde does not cite Transcontinental Gas Pipeline, and neither does Houston Oil & Minerals, which likewise does not cite Cor-bitt or Theriot. On the other hand, neither Corbitt nor Theriot cites Sohyde. Some recognition of this tension or possible conflict is reflected in Laredo Offshore Constructors, Inc. v. Hunt Oil Co., 754 F.2d 1223, 1232 n. 11 (5th Cir.1985). However, Laredo seems to be grounded on the fact that the contract there in issue called for construction of a fixed platform on the outer continental shelf, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) is made specifically applicable to “platform construction.” Id. at 1226. See also 43 U.S.C. § 1331(Z). We concluded in Laredo that “the particular policy judgments embodied in the OCSLA precluded in some cases the application of maritime law quite independently of the traditional principles of admiralty,” and that “the OCSLA can only be regarded as a substantive restriction of the district court’s admiralty jurisdiction” (at least in certain cases). Id. at 1232. Here, of course, the events in issue occurred in state territorial waters, just as they did in Transcontinental Gas Pipeline and Sohyde, Corbitt, and Theriot.
The result we reach today is certainly supportable under the rationale of Sohyde. See also Herb’s Welding, Inc. v. Gray, 470 U.S. 414, 105 S.Ct. 1421, 1428, 84 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985) (“[tjhere is nothing inherently maritime about” building and maintaining pipes and platforms, at least not in connection with mineral exploration and development of the outer continental shelf). But see Theriot, 783 F.2d at 539 n. 11 (distinguishing Herb’s Welding). Arguably, we should follow Sohyde in preference to Cor-bitt and Theriot since it preceded them, and in preference to Transcontinental Gas Pipeline since it preceded Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. Cleveland, 409 U.S. 249, 93 S.Ct. 493, 34 L.Ed.2d 454 (1972), on which Sohyde placed principal reliance. However, it seems to me that it may be desirable to consider this issue en banc, in order that we may take a more consistent approach to the question of whether and in what circumstances activities in connection with mineral development in state territorial waters are maritime (or perhaps “maritime and local,” see Kossick v. United Fruit Co., 365 U.S. 731, 81 S.Ct. 886, 892, 6 L.Ed.2d 56 (1960)).1
Given the OCSLA directed applicability of state law to such activities when con*958ducted on the outer continental shelf, see Lardeo, there is plainly much to be said, as Judge Wisdom points out, for also applying state law when the same activities are conducted in the state’s territorial waters.2 In deciding which law should apply, however, it is questionable whether determinative significance should be given the Louisiana Oil Field Indemnity Act, since the rationale for applying state law in territorial waters in order to be consistent with its application on the outer continental shelf applies with equal force to state judge-made law. And, if admiralty law is to be applied, then I see no reason not to apply our general rule that indemnity contracts of this nature are entirely valid. See Theriot, 783 F.2d at 540; Lefler v. Atlantic Richfield Company, Inc., 785 F.2d 1341, 1343 (5th Cir.1986).

. It may be possible to distinguish the present case from Sohyde. I would regard the particular work order for the Barge KATHY on this occasion, and not the “blanket contract," as the relevant agreement here. See Matte v. Zapata Offshore Co., 784 F.2d 628, 630 (5th Cir.1986); Page v. Gulf Oil Corp., 775 F.2d 1311, 1315 (5th Cir.1985). The work order did not simply call for the Barge KATHY to transport men and equipment to the work site, but rather called for the barge to itself function as the base from which the work would be performed by one who was unquestionably a member of its crew and would use the equipment and machinery with which the vessel was outfitted, and which would largely remain on it, to perform the assigned task. The self-propelled barge would not jack itself down to the ocean floor to perform *958its work. This arguably presents a different situation from that of the submersible drilling barge which was resting on the bottom of the canal slip in Sohyde. Here, it is not inconceivable that when the task assigned was finished Arnold Buras would indeed have called out "‘weigh anchor.”' See Sohyde, 644 F.2d at 1137. Nonetheless, our cases do not seem to have made this character of distinction before, and whether it has validity and utility would in my view best be addressed by the en banc court in connection with its overall consideration of the Sohyde and the Corbitt, Theriot lines of cases.

. Nevertheless, we have been cautioned, albeit in a different context, against "[t]he extension of OCSLA far beyond its intended locale.” Offshore Logistics, Inc. v. Tallentire, 477 U.S. 207, 106 S.Ct. 2485, 2493, 91 L.Ed.2d 174 (1986). We have also recognized, at least for purposes of admiralty actions, that the uniform "common law” of admiralty displaces state wrongful death statutes in territorial waters. Matter of S/S Helena, 529 F.2d 744 (5th Cir.1976). Cf. Kossick; Kermarec v. Compagnie Generate Transatlantique, 358 U.S. 625, 79 S.Ct. 406, 3 L.Ed.2d 550 (1959).