Court Opinion

ID: 9449085
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:55:53.095279+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:41.509414
License: Public Domain

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I am in full accord with my brother MARSHALL that we must reverse for error in the charge with respect to the hook; indeed, as I read the charge, the jury could well have understood it to warrant their finding unseaworthiness on the basis not only of a defect in the hook but also of one in the stow, although at the argument before us plaintiff’s counsel conceded that on the facts here the ship was not chargeable for any defect in the last. My doubt is whether plaintiff’s evidence as to the lighting sufficed to warrant submission to the jury at all. No one can quarrel with the general proposition that proof of inadequate lighting is enough to support a finding of unseaworthiness. But here plaintiff’s expert testified there was “a custom and practice” to have portable lights as part of a ship’s equipment and
“When there was not sufficient light in the lower hold or in the ’tween decks, we had the ship put lights in the corners, so to come cross-wise down in the hold or in the ’tween deck, so the people would see that the stowing would be done properly.”
This evidence would seem to demand a further showing that the S.S. Turmoil did not have adequate portable lights at Lipsett’s disposal; if she did, I would think that, on plaintiff’s own theory, there was nothing to warrant the conclusion that she was unseaworthy. Mollica v. Compania Sud-Americana de Vapores, 207 F.2d 25 (2 Cir., 1953), is still viable to the extent that if a vessel has all necessary appliances available, she is not to be cast for unseaworthiness simply because those doing the work do not use them, whether such person be a stevedore, as here, or a seaman as in Ezekiel v. Volusia S.S. Co., 297 F.2d 215 (2 Cir., 1961), cert. denied, Pinto v. States Marine Corp. of Del., 369 U.S. 843, 82 S.Ct. 874, 7 L.Ed.2d 847 (1962). None of the cases cited by my brother MARSHALL is contra,. There was no clear evidence that portable lights were not available; the closest plaintiff came to proving this is some testimony that an officer of the vessel made an inspection of the ’tween-deck with a flashlight to see whether any damage to cables was being done. The remand will permit a fuller exploration of these facts and submission of the case to the jury on instructions that will focus attention more precisely on the issue really in dispute, 28- U.S.C. § 2106. Further delay in the disposition of Mosley’s claim against the ship is, indeed, unfortunate, but other remedies have been available to him in the meantime.