Court Opinion

ID: 9465698
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:53:13.902546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:19.172130
License: Public Domain

GARTH, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I am unable to join Judge Biggs’ excellently crafted opinion because of my fundamental disagreement with the Majority’s interpretation of the scope of the negligence action made available to longshoremen under section 5(b) of the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 901 et seq. (1976). The Majority has construed the statute in a manner which effectively rejects any theory of vessel liability based on land-based concepts of negligence1 despite the fact that the legislative history concerning the 1972 Amendments to the LHWCA indicates that Congress intended to predicate vessel liability upon such concepts. *558Based on this construction the Majority concludes that the vessel owed no duty to Rich, and thus affirms the district court’s award of judgment notwithstanding the verdict. I think that this restrictive construction of the statute is incorrect, that it will lead to anomalous results in future cases, and that it will have the effect of thwarting a major Congressional purpose — the imposition of a duty on vessels to provide a safe place to work — in enacting the 1972 Amendments. In contrast, I would construe the statute as embracing land-based concepts of negligence. Construing section 5(b) in this way, I think sufficient evidence appears in the record to permit a jury to find that the vessel was negligent in failing to prevent the accumulation of ice on its container cargo or in failing to remove the ice once accumulated. This does not mean, however, that I would reverse the district court in this particular case despite my strong disagreement with the Majority’s statutory interpretation and analysis. Because of the limited legal theories on which this case was presented in the district court, see p. 568 infra, I must conclude that it would be inappropriate to remand for a new trial. Nevertheless, it must be recognized that this case involves the interpretation of an important Congressional enactment with significant implications for the shipping and stevedoring industries. I write separately to express my views because I think that the Majority’s narrow and erroneous interpretation is inconsistent with both Congressional intent and the case law as it has been developing in other circuits.
I.
A.
Section 5 of the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. § 905, was amended in 1972I.2 to afford longshoremen a cause of action for injuries sustained by the negligence of a vessel:
(b) In the event of injury to a person covered under this chapter caused by the negligence of a vessel, then such person, or anyone otherwise entitled to recover damages by reason thereof, may bring an action against such vessel as a third party in accordance with the provisions of section 933 of this title, and the employer shall not be liable to the vessel for such damages directly or indirectly and any agreements or warranties to the contrary shall be void. If such person was employed by the vessel to provide stevedor-ing services, no such action shall be permitted if the injury was caused by the negligence of persons engaged in providing stevedoring services to the vessel. If such person was employed by the vessel to provide ship building or repair services, no such action shall be permitted if the injury was caused by the negligence of persons engaged in providing ship building or repair services to the vessel. The liability of the vessel under this subsection shall not be based upon the warranty of seaworthiness or a breach thereof at the time the injury occurred. The remedy provided in this subsection shall be exclusive of all other remedies against the vessel except remedies available under this chapter.
As the Majority Opinion indicates, the 1972 amendments were designed to eliminate a vessel’s strict liability to longshoremen under the unseaworthiness doctrine and to preclude a vessel’s subsequent action for indemnification against the stevedore.3 In return for elimination of the unseaworthiness cause of action, longshoremen benefited from substantial improvements made in *559the workmen’s compensation program under which they are covered.4
Abolition of a vessel’s liability under the unseaworthiness doctrine did not, however, entirely free the vessel from the duty to exercise reasonable care with respect to activities and conditions affecting the longshoremen’s performance of their duties. The House Report accompanying the 1972 amendments states that “where a longshoreman or other worker covered under this Act is injured through the fault of the vessel, the vessel should be liable for damages as a third party, just as land-based third parties in nonmaritime pursuits are liable for damages when, through their fault, a worker is injured.” 5 Imposition of this standard of liability would create an incentive for the vessel to provide longshoremen with a safe place to work concomitant with the creation of a mechanism by which longshoremen would be compensated for injuries caused by the vessel’s negligence.6
However, concerned that this imposition of negligence liability might be transmuted in practice into liability under the disapproved unseaworthiness standard, the statute was drafted to caution that “[i]f [a] person was employed by the vessel to provide stevedoring services, no such action shall be permitted if the injury was caused by the negligence of persons engaged in providing stevedoring services to the vessel.” 7 This court has interpreted this provision of the statute as “relievpng] the vessel from liability for negligence caused by persons engaged in providing stevedoring services, thus preventing the imposition of liability on the vessel on some respondeat superior or absolute duty of care basis.” Griffith v. Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corporation, 521 F.2d 31, 40 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1054, 96 S.Ct. 785, 46 L.Ed.2d 643 (1976). More generally, this court has concluded “that the traditional, expansive maritime tort liability is not . . . to be judicially imported into section 905(b) under the guise of ‘nondelegable duty’ or any other synonym for liability without fault.” Hurst v. Triad Shipping Company, 554 F.2d 1237, 1247 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 188, 54 L.Ed.2d 134 (1977).
No necessary tension emanates from the language of the statute insofar as it impos*560es liability on the vessel for injuries caused by its own negligence and at the same time absolves the vessel from liability for injuries caused by the negligence of the stevedore. The longshoreman is entitled to workmen’s compensation benefits without regard to fault concepts when he is injured.8 If the injuries are caused by the negligence of a third person other than the stevedore, the longshoreman may also recover against the third person in a tort action subject to the stevedore’s compensation lien on the third party recovery.9 In the case where a longshoreman is injured as a result of the negligence of both the vessel and the stevedore,10 he would be entitled to sue the vessel in tort to recover for the injuries caused by the vessel’s negligence subject to the stevedore’s compensation lien for the workmen’s compensation benefits to which the longshoreman is entitled.11
I do not understand this sort of joint responsibility to offend against the intent of Congress in enacting the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA. On the contrary, it would seem that holding the vessel accountable for its negligence, even though the stevedore has been negligent as well, is necessary to effectuate the congressional design of creating an incentive for the vessel “to exercise the same care as a land-based person in providing a safe place to work.”12
What the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA did set out to eliminate is vessel liability on a respondeat superior or nondel-egable duty of care basis.13 Principally this means that the vessel has no general duty continually to supervise the activities of the stevedore, to assume responsibility for the condition of the stevedore’s equipment, or to assume responsibility for dangerous conditions in the vessel created by the stevedore during the course of its operations (at least when the vessel has no knowledge of the dangerous conditions).14 Certain of *561these ramifications of elimination of the unseaworthiness cause of action were expressed in the legislative history as follows: 15
Persons to whom compensation is payable under the Act retain the right to recover damages for negligence against the vessel, but under these amendments they cannot bring a damage action under the judicially-enacted doctrine of unseaworthiness. Thus a vessel shall not be liable in damages for acts or omissions of stevedores or employees of stevedores subject to this Act . . . ; for the manner or method in which stevedores or employees of stevedores subject to this Act perform their work . . . ; for gear or equipment of stevedores or employees of stevedores subject to this Act whether used aboard ship, or shore, . . . or for other categories of unseaworthiness which have been judicially established.
B.
In view of my understanding of the liability scheme created by the LHWCA, I believe a court must construe these statutory provisions so as to give scope to the negligence liability imposed on the vessel, to free the vessel from liability founded upon respondeat superior or nondelegable duty doctrines, and to impose on the stevedore, with respect to its equipment and operations, primary responsibility for the safety of its longshoremen employees. These goals can be pursued more readily, I believe, if a distinction is drawn between (1) the condition of the vessel as it is turned over to the stevedore and as it is affected by subsequent activities of the vessel’s crew, and (2) the activities and methods of operation engaged in by the stevedore and its employees, and the condition or type of gear or equipment utilized by the stevedore and its employees.16 With respect to the condition of the vessel, I believe that Congress intended that the vessel be subject to the same duty as that which a landowner owes to business invitees. The duty owed by the vessel with respect to the operations and equipment of the stevedore, I would suggest, should be analogous to the duty imposed upon the employer of an independent contractor.
Section 343 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts specifies the duty owed by a possessor of land to his invitees with respect to dangerous conditions known to or discoverable by the possessor:
§ 343. Dangerous Conditions Known to or Discoverable by Possessor A possessor of land is subject to liability for physical harm caused to his invitees by a condition on the land if, but only if, he
(a) knows or by the exercise of reasonable care would discover the condition, and should realize that it involves an unreasonable risk of harm to such invitees, and
(b) should expect that they will not discover or realize the danger, or will fail to protect themselves against it, and
(c) fails to exercise reasonable care to protect them against the danger.
Section 343A,17 which must be read in conjunction with section 343, excepts the landowner from liability when the dangerous condition is known or obvious to the invitee *562unless the possessor should anticipate the harm despite such knowledge or obviousness. These are the only provisions of the Restatement II which concern the scope of a landowner’s liability to invitees arising with respect to the condition of the land.18
Following the mandate of Congress that the duty which a vessel owes to longshoreman be defined in terms of land-based theories of negligence, I think it only appropriate that the standards set forth in §§ 343-343A be held to apply to 'vessels sued by longshoremen under section 5(b) of the LHWCA. The vessel is analogous to the possessor of land — the ship is the property upon which the longshoremen perform their jobs. And the stevedore and the longshoremen clearly fall within the Restatement’s definition of an “invitee.”19 To apply these provisions “will meet the objective of encouraging safety because the vessel will still be required to exercise the same care as a land-based person in providing a safe place to work.”20 To ignore these provisions, in contrast, would mean essentially that a vessel is free from liability to longshoremen with respect to dangerous conditions existing on the vessel at the time it is turned over to the stevedore. Such impunity would, in contravention of congressional design, place the vessel in a preferred position to the land-based person.
Support for the views I express here is to be found in a growing body of case law. In fact, the imposition of vessel liability under sections 343-343A of the Restatement II has been upheld by all of the circuits that have considered the issue.21 A case analo*563gous on its facts to the instant appeal is Canizzo v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 579 F.2d 682 (2d Cir. 1978), cert. denied,-U.S.-, 99 S.Ct. 316, 58 L.Ed.2d 322 (1978). In Canizzo, a judgment establishing a ship’s liability to a stevedore was affirmed on the basis of facts indicating “[t]he existence of a substantial area of grease in a narrow passageway, which should have been known to the ship’s personnel, made more dangerous by the positioning by the ship’s personnel of . cluster lights and wires upon the greasy area . . . .”22 Liability was sustained on the basis of Restatement II §§ 343-343A, which establish that the “possessors of land, and hence shipowners, are liable for physical harm caused to invitees by dangerous conditions which are not obvious to the invitee (§ 343), but are absolved from liability when dangerous conditions are known or obvious, except when the possessor should anticipate the harm despite the invitee’s knowledge or the obviousness of the condition. (§ 343A).” 23
Canizzo is the most recent in a developing line of Second Circuit cases confirming, not without some intra-Circuit conflict,24 the availability of a longshoreman’s negligence action against the vessel under Restatement II § 343. In Lubrano v. Royal Netherlands Steamship Company, 572 F.2d 364 (2d Cir. 1978), the court remanded the case for a new trial on a § 343 theory to determine whether the vessel, after being notified of an open and obvious danger of insufficient dunnage for a slippery cargo, required the longshoremen to keep working or joined in the stevedore’s decision to do so. Napoli v. (Transpacific Carriers Corporation and Universal Cargo Carriers, Inc.) Hellenic Lines, Ltd., 536 F.2d 505 (2d Cir. 1976), also involved a remand for retrial on a § 343 theory. There, the vessel was acting as its own stevedore,25 and the longshoreman was injured when he fell from some unsecured plywood board resting on top of a deck load of drums. Snow was found both on top of and beneath the plywood, and conflicting evidence was presented as to whether the longshoreman slipped on the plywood or the plywood slipped on the drums. There was also a dispute as to whether the plywood had been placed on the drums by the ship’s crew or the longshoremen. Relying on the “obvious danger” standard set forth in § 343A in remanding for a new trial, the court concluded that “a vessel is liable to longshoremen only for injuries resulting from obvious dangers which it should reasonably anticipate that the longshoremen would be unable to avoid.” 26
The Fifth Circuit was confronted, in Gay v. Ocean Transport & Trading, Ltd., 546 *564F.2d 1233 (5th Cir. 1977), with the task of formulating the appropriate standard to be applied when a vessel is sued for its negligence under section 5(b). Although the court, in this consolidated appeal, affirmed judgments in favor of the vessels on the ground that the longshoremen’s injuries were caused solely by the stevedores’ negligence, the scope of the duty to be applied in section 5(b) actions was described as follows:
“In the interests of uniformity among the courts of this circuit and throughout the federal system, we have adopted the formulation of the Restatement (Second) of Torts §§ 342, 343 & 343A (1965).”
See Samuels v. Empresa Lineas Maritimas Argentinas, 573 F.2d 884 (5th Cir. 1978) (upholding judgment in favor of longshoreman on § 343 theory). The Fourth Circuit has also approved the use of § 343 in defining the duty owed by a vessel in a negligence action commenced by a longshoreman under section 5(b). Anuszewski v. Dynamic Mariners Corporation, Panama, 540 F.2d 757, 759 (4th Cir. 1976) (per curiam), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1098, 97 S.Ct. 1116, 51 L.Ed.2d 545 (1977).
I do not think that the relevant precedents of this Circuit—Brown v. Ivarans Rederi A/S, 545 F.2d 854 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 969, 97 S.Ct. 1652, 52 L.Ed.2d 361 (1977); Marant v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 550 F.2d 142 (3d Cir. 1977); Hurst v. Triad Shipping Company, 554 F.2d 1237 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 188, 54 L.Ed.2d 134 (1977)27 — necessarily preclude a longshoreman from establishing a vessel’s negligence under § 343. Brown, the first decision of this court to suggest the standard of care which a vessel owes to a longshoreman, involved a situation in which a longshoreman was injured while unloading angle iron from the hold of the vessel. The unloading was accomplished by means of a winch and hoisting cables, and was performed in an unsafe manner because empty wooden barrels occupied two-thirds to three-quarters of the hatch opening through which the angle iron was removed. In view of these facts, the court tentatively proposed the following standard: 28
The parties in this case would have us suggest to the district court the standard of care a vessel owes to a longshoreman under the negligence remedy created by § 905(b). It would appear that the principles of the law of negligence, as adopted in the admiralty field during the history of our country, are to form the basis of any recovery against shipowners insofar as such principles are not inconsistent with § 905(b). See, e. g. Kermarec [v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 358 U.S. 625,] 628, 79 S.Ct. 406, 3 L.Ed.2d 550; Socony-Vacuum Co. v. Smith, 305 U.S. 424, 431-32, 59 S.Ct. 262, 83 L.Ed. 265 (1939); [Southern Pacific v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 37 S.Ct. 524, 61 L.Ed. 1086], supra; see also, for example, Bess v. Agromar Line, 518 F.2d 738, 740-43 (4th Cir. 1975); §§ 281-83, as well as 302A, 305 and 452, Restatement (Second) of Torts, in light of the regulations set forth in note 3 and the text at pages 855-856 above. 5
The court added that it found the Second Circuit’s decision in Napoli v. (Transpacific Carriers Corporation and Universal Cargo Carriers, Inc.) Hellenic Lines, Ltd., 536 F.2d 505 (2d Cir. 1976), unpersuasive on the facts of the Brown appeal because Napoli “(1) relied on § 343A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts . . ., which in comment (e) is based on the doctrine of assumption of risk, specifically rejected by Congress in the 1972 legislation . . ., and (2) the vessel owner acted as its own stevedore in that case . . . .” 29
To the extent that the court in Napoli endorsed application of the doctrine of as*565sumption of risk, Brown did well to disapprove it. Brown, in my opinion, should be read as doing no more than this, however. It would be a mistake to read Brown broadly as eschewing the applicability of §§ 343-343A in all section 5(b) actions simply because of the reference to assumption of risk in § 343A, comment (e). These provisions of the Restatement are really the only ones which deal with a landowner’s duty to exercise reasonable care with respect to the condition of his property when it is turned over to an independent contractor.30 Excising these provisions from the scope of a vessel’s duty to a longshoreman would go impermissibly far toward abrogating completely the vessel’s obligation “to exercise the same care as a land-based person in providing a safe place to work,” 31 an obligation which Congress avowedly intended to preserve. Much the better course, in terms of preserving the congressionally designed incentive for vessels to exercise reasonable care in providing a safe place to work, would be to apply §§ 343-343A in section 5(b) actions but to substitute for the doctrines of contributory negligence and assumption of risk insofar as they are reflected in these provisions the doctrine of comparative negligence long applied in the maritime law.32 This is essentially the result reached by those circuits which have upheld the imposition of liability under §§ 343-343A 33
Hurst v. Triad Shipping Company, 554 F.2d 1237 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 188, 54 L.Ed.2d 134 (1977), decided by this court after Brown and Mar-ant, involved the issue of a vessel’s liability when a longshoreman suffers injuries as a result of the stevedore’s unsafe method of operation. The longshoremen were injured in that case when the cables suspended from a shore side crane fell upon them as a result of the manner in which the crane was operated by the stevedore. The court concluded that because the injury arose from the manner in which the stevedoring activities were conducted, the vessel could only be liable under Restatement II §§ 409, 410-15, sections covering the liability of an employer of an independent contractor for physical harm caused by an act or omission of the contractor or his servants.34 I think this holding was unimpeachable since, with respect to the stevedore’s activities, the vessel is simply in the position of an employer of an independent contractor.35
*566The decision in Hurst is fully consistent with the distinction I would draw between injuries incurred by a longshoreman as a result of the stevedore’s activities and equipment, and injuries incurred as a result of the condition of the vessel and the activities of the vessel’s crew. Hurst itself recognized that courts had employed the standard set forth in §§ 343-343A when a longshoreman was injured as a result of the vessel’s dangerous condition:
Several courts have applied §§ 343-43A to create a duty in the shipowner to warn longshoremen of and protect them from dangers inhering in the ship as turned over to the stevedore. See, e. g., Napoli v. [Transpacific Carriers, etc.] Hellenic Lines, Ltd., 536 F.2d 505 (2d Cir. 1976); Croshaw v. Koninklijke Nedlloyd, 398 F.Supp. 1224 (D.Or.1975). It was nothing about the ship or the stowage of its cargo, however, that endangered Hurst and Minus. Instead, it was the method of conducting the stevedoring activity, on a ship otherwise safe when turned over to the stevedore, that resulted in appellants’ injuries. If §§ 343-43A were applied to create a duty in the shipowner to apprise himself of, to warn the longshoremen of and to protect them [sic] dangerous features of the independent contractor’s — i. e., the stevedore’s — activity, then the Restatement sections dealing with employer control over the activity of independent contractors, §§ 409-29, would be rendered nugatory with respect to landowners-shipowners.
Hurst v. Triad Shipping Company, 554 F.2d at 1249 n.35. As is apparent, Hurst held that §§ 343-343A may not be employed to impose on the vessel a nondelegable duty to supervise the stevedore’s activities.36 The court did not hold that §§ 343-343A would not apply when it was the unreasonably dangerous condition of the vessel which gave rise to the longshoreman’s injuries.
II.
Testing the facts of this case against the standard set forth in §§ 343-343A, and in those cases utilizing a theory of negligence such as I espouse here, it is evident that in normal circumstances Rich would have been entitled to take his case to the jury. The evidence which he presented was sufficient, in my view, to permit a jury to find that the vessel’s duty extended to the condition of the containers which constituted the vessel’s cargo, and that accordingly the vessel was negligent either (1) in failing to cover the containers with tarpaulins so as to prevent ice from forming on the container tops; or (2) in failing to remove the ice or provide nonskid materials once the ice had accumulated.37 In light of weather conditions during the vessel’s voyage to Philadelphia, the jury could have found that the vessel knew or should have known of the icy conditions. Evidence was also presented that the stevedore informed the vessel of the icy conditions. The jury could also have found that the vessel should have expected *567that the longshoremen would fail to protect themselves against this danger, or that the vessel should have anticipated the harm to the longshoremen despite their knowledge of the danger or the danger’s obviousness. It appears to be undisputed that the vessel exercised no care to protect the longshoremen against the danger which materialized.
As the Majority itself recognizes, numerous cases have held the vessel liable for injuries sustained by a longshoreman as a result of slippery conditions aboard ship.38 Distinguishing these cases, the Majority concludes that judgment notwithstanding the verdict is proper in this case because Rich has failed “to present evidence demonstrating that the custom and practice of the industry was such that the vessel owner would normally assume responsibility for the tops of containers . . . .”39 Although the distinction that the Majority would draw between decks and container tops is an intriguing one, I do not believe that the Majority’s formulation of a per se rule absolving a vessel from liability with respect to the condition of container cargo will bear analysis. First, under pre-1972 Amendment case law, the vessel was responsible for the condition of cargo containers.40 Although the 1972 Amendments abolished the doctrine of unseaworthiness and thereby limited to negligence the standard of care under which a vessel would be held liable, there is no indication that the 1972 Amendments intended to create a per se rule excluding from scrutiny under the negligence standard the vessel’s actions with respect to cargo containers.41 What the Majority has done, in effect, is to create a new rule of law. Second, the Majority’s distinction does not explain why vessels are subject to liability for injuries resulting from the dangerous condition of non-container cargo.42 There is no distinction in kind between deck cargo and container cargo; both types of cargo are under the vessel’s control during the course of a voyage, but are generally turned over to the stevedore for purposes of loading and unloading. Differences in the size and shape of cargo would only be relevant, in my view, in determining whether the vessel had been negligent in its treatment of the cargo in a particular case. Considering that container cargo is within the vessel’s control during the course of a voyage and that containerization has proliferated rapidly in the shipping industry,43 it would unduly insulate the vessel from liability to hold, as the Majority does, that container cargo is exempt from the scope of a vessel’s duty. That this action is one involving containerized cargo is a relevant fact which I believe should be considered by the jury just as it considers *568all other relevant facts in determining whether the vessel was negligent.
Despite the possibility that Rich would have made out a cause of action under §§ 343-343A, he chose to argue to the district court that these provisions were not pertinent to the vessel’s liability under the negligence action provided in section 5(b).44 On the theories of liability which Rich did present to the district court, I think that judgment was properly directed against him despite the jury’s verdict.45 Although I join in the conclusion reached by the Majority for this reason, I strongly urge that the Majority’s rejection of the applicability of §§ 343-343A in section 5(b) actions be reviewed by our entire court. Not only is the correct interpretation of a significant congressional enactment at stake, but so too is the obligation of this court to provide guidance to the district courts by setting forth unequivocally the complete contours of a section 5(b) cause of action. While I recognize that this case may not be the ideal vehicle for such instruction because of the theories on which it was presented, this aspect of the case should not cause this court to be channeled into an incorrect interpretation of the statute. I have therefore expressed my views separately from the Majority, concurring only in the result.

. While part III of the Majority Opinion might be read as evidencing the Majority’s recognition that a vessel may be liable to a longshoreman under land-based theories of negligence, the Majority has stated quite plainly in footnote 21 “that Sections 343 and 343A . . . are both inconsistent with Section 905(b) and therefore should not be relied upon to create a duty on the part of the ship owner.” Maj. Op. at 551 n. 21. Since these are the only Restatement (Second) of Torts (Restatement II) provisions of relevance when the vessel is turned over to the stevedore in a dangerous condition, see pp. 547-563 infra, the Majority’s decision effectively exempts the vessel from liability under land-based concepts of negligence. It is precisely for this reason that I part company with the Majority.

. Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act Amendments of 1972, Pub.L. No. 92-576, 86 Stat. 1263, 33 U.S.C. § 905(b).

. See Maj. Op. at 546. For earlier discussions by this court of the circumstances leading to enactment of the 1972 amendments, see Hurst v. Triad Shipping Co., 554 F.2d 1237, 1241—44 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 188, 54 L.Ed.2d 134 (1977); Griffith v. Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corp., 521 F.2d 31, 38-41 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1054, 96 S.Ct. 785, 46 L.Ed.2d 643 (1976).

. See H.R.Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 4698, 4700-01.

. H.R.Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News at p. 4702.

. The imposition of liability for negligence will create an incentive for the vessel to take those precautions in providing a safe place to work which cost less than the expected value of the cost of accidents. See R. Posner, Economic Analysis of Law 122-28 (2d ed. 1977); G. Cala-bresi, The Costs of Accidents 135-73 (student ed. 1970).

. 33 U.S.C. § 905(b).
The provision exempting a vessel from liability for injuries caused to longshoremen by the stevedore’s negligence is reinforced by 33 U.S.C. § 941(a), which requires a stevedore to provide his longshoremen-employees with a reasonably safe place to work:
(a) Every employer shall furnish and maintain employment and places of employment which shall be reasonably safe for his employees in all employments covered by this chapter and shall install, furnish, maintain, and use such devices and safeguards with particular reference to equipment used by and working conditions established by such employers as the Secretary may determine by regulation or order to be reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, and safety of such employees, and to render safe such employment and places of employment, and to prevent injury to his employees. .
See Brown v. Ivarans Reden A/S, 545 F.2d 854, 859-61 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 969, 97 S.Ct. 1652, 52 L.Ed.2d 361 (1977).
The Majority cites certain regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which would require a stevedore to eliminate slippery conditions as they occur. See Maj. Op. at 555 n. 24. These regulations are certainly not dispositive of the issues in this case, for the regulations also state that they are not intended “to relieve such owners, operators, agents or masters of vessels from responsibilities or duties now placed upon them by law, regulation or custom.” 29 C.F.R. § 1918.2 (1977).

. 33 U.S.C. § 904(b).

. 33 U.S.C. § 933.

. The vessel might conceivably be negligent if an act or omission attributable to the vessel involved an unreasonable risk of harm to a longshoreman through the negligence or recklessness of a stevedore. Restatement II § 302A. See Brown v. Ivarans Rederi A/S, 545 F.2d 854, 863 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 969, 97 S.Ct. 1652, 52 L.Ed.2d 361 (1977).

. This court recognized in Marant v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 550 F.2d 142, 145 (3d Cir. 1977), that an action may be maintained by a longshoreman against a vessel when the longshoreman’s injuries might be attributed to the negligence of both the stevedore and the vessel. See Edmonds v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 577 F.2d 1153 (4th Cir. 1978) (en banc), cert. granted, - U.S. -, 99 S.Ct. 348, 58 L.Ed.2d 343 (1978); Samuels v. Empresa Lineas Maritimas Argentinas, 573 F.2d 884 (5th Cir. 1978); Dodge v. Mitsui Shintaku Ginko K.K. Tokyo, 528 F.2d 669 (9th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 944, 96 S.Ct. 1685, 48 L.Ed.2d 188 (1976).
The existence of a cause of action in this circumstance has given rise to a difficult issue, one which I see no necessity for reaching today: whether a longshoreman’s recovery against a vessel should be reduced to reflect the extent to which the stevedore’s negligence had contributed to the longshoreman’s injuries. Compare Edmonds v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, supra (requiring reduction in recovery) with Samuels v. Empresa Lineas Maritimas Argentinas, supra (prohibiting reduction); Dodge v. Mitsui Shintaku Ginko K.K. Tokyo, supra (same); Shellman v. United States Lines, Inc., 528 F.2d 675 (9th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 936, 96 S.Ct. 1668, 48 L.Ed.2d 177 (1976) (same); Landon v. Lief Hoegh & Co., 521 F.2d 756, 763 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1053, 96 S.Ct. 783, 46 L.Ed.2d 642 (1976) (same, dicta). See the Majority and concurring opinions in Marant v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 550 F.2d 142 (3d Cir. 1977).

. H.R.Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 4698, 4704.

. Hurst v. Triad Shipping Company, 554 F.2d 1237, 1247 (3d Cir.), cert. denied 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 188, 54 L.Ed.2d 134 (1977); Griffith v. Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corp., 521 F.2d 31, 40 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1054, 96 S.Ct. 785, 46 L.Ed.2d 643 (1976).

. Absent some special relationship, it is generally the case that the fact that a person realizes that action on his part is necessary for another’s aid or protection is not alone sufficient to impose on that person a duty to act. Restatement II § 314. Whether the relationship between a vessel and a longshoreman is sufficient to give rise to a duty to act on the vessel’s part, in addition to the duty to maintain the vessel in a safe condition, see id. §§ 343-343A, is an issue which I do not reach on this appeal. See id. § 314B.

. H.R.Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 4698, 4703-04 (footnotes omitted).

. See Robertson, Negligence Actions by Longshoremen Against Shipowners Under Section 905(b) of the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 3 Maritime Lawyer 1 (1977).

. Restatement II § 343A reads as follows:
§ 343A. Known or Obvious Dangers
(1) A possessor of land is not liable to his invitees for physical harm caused to them by any activity or condition on the land whose danger is known or obvious to them, unless the possessor should anticipate the harm despite such knowledge or obviousness.
(2) In determining whether the possessor should anticipate harm from a known or obvious danger, the fact that the invitee is entitled to make use of public land, or of the facilities of a public utility, is a factor of importance indicating that the harm should be anticipated.

. When the activities of the vessel’s crew are carried on in an unreasonably dangerous manner, the vessel’s liability to a longshoreman injured as a consequence might be predicated upon Restatement II § 341A. This section reads as follows:
§ 341 A. Activities Dangerous to Invitees A possessor of land is subject to liability to his invitees for physical harm caused to them by his failure to carry on his activities with reasonable care for their safety if, but only if, he should expect that they will not discover or realize the danger, or will fail to protect themselves against it.

. “Invitee” is defined in Restatement II § 332 as follows:
§ 332. Invitee Defined
(1) An invitee is either a public invitee or a business visitor.
(2) A public invitee is a person who is invited to enter or remain on land as a member of the public for a purpose for which the land is held open to the public.
(3) A business visitor is a person who is invited to enter or remain on land for a purpose directly or indirectly connected with business dealings with the possessor of the land.
Servants of independent contractors doing work on the premises were found to be invitees in the following cases: Crane Co. v. Simpson, 242 F.2d 734 (6 Cir. 1957); Sullivan v. Shell Oil Co., 234 F.2d 733 (9 Cir. 1956), cert. denied, 352 U.S. 925, 77 S.Ct. 221, 1 L.Ed.2d 160; Dobbie v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., 95 Cal.App. 781, 273 P. 630 (1928); Carr v. Wallace Laundry Co., 31 Idaho 266, 170 P. 107 (1918); Webster Mfg. Co. v. Mulvanny, 168 Ill. 311, 48 N.E. 168 (1897); Lincoln v. Appalachian Corp., 146 La. 23, 83 So. 364, 7 A.L.R. 1697 (1919); Hail v. Thayer, 225 Mass. 151, 113 N.E. 644 (1916); Jewell v. Kansas City Bolt & Nut Co., 231 Mo. 176, 132 S.W. 703, 140 Am.St.Rep. 515 (1910); Stevens v. United Gas & Electric Co., 73 N.H. 159, 60 A. 848, 70 L.R.A. 119 (1905); Hogan v. Arbuckle, 73 App.Div. 591, 77 N.Y.S. 22 (1902); Davis Bakery Co. v. Dozier, 139 Va. 628, 124 S.E. 411 (1924).

. H.R.Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 4698, 4704.

. Two circuits have specifically declined to reach the issue of liability under Restatement II §§ 343-343A. Davison v. Pacific Inland Navigation Company, Inc., 569 F.2d 507, 508 n.1 (9th Cir. 1978); Anderson v. Iceland Steamship Company, 585 F.2d 1142, 1146-48 (1st Cir. 1978). The only decision which apparently has rejected the applicability of §§ 343-343A in longshoremen’s actions under section 5(b) of LHWCA is Shepler v. Weyerhaeuser Company, 279 Or. 477, 569 P.2d 1040 (1977). Without further elaboration, the Shepler court stated:
We regard as a premise, at least of the common law, that not only the existence but the nature of a duty arises out of some relationship of the parties; whatever the relationship between vessel and longshoreman may be, it is not that of occupier of land and invitee.
569 P.2d at 1051 (emphasis in original).
Since the longshoreman’s injuries in Shepler were sustained as a result of the stevedore’s unsafe method of operation, the rejection of §§ 343-343A, which are relevant to the unsafe condition of the vessel, seems to me wholly gratuitous. Although the Shepler court appears to have been correct in concluding that *563the charterer’s liability could be sustained under Restatement II § 410 because the charterer had directed the stevedore’s method of operation, I think that the court was precipitous in dismissing §§ 343-343A before being confronted with a case involving the defective condition of the vessel.

. 579 F.2d at 686.

. Id. at 685.

. In particular, the decision in Cox v. Flota Mercante Grancolombiana, S.A., 577 F.2d 798 (2d Cir. 1978), cert. denied, -U.S. -, 99 S.Ct. 222, 58 L.Ed.2d 195 (1978), seems out of step with the developing case law in the Second and in other Circuits. Indeed, the court in Canizzo thought that the decision in Cox could not be fairly distinguished, Canizzo v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 579 F.2d at 686 n.3, and chose instead to disapprove of the result in Cox.

. Attempts have been made to narrow the reach of Napoli on this ground, see Canizzo v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 579 F.2d 682, 689 (2d Cir. 1978) cert. denied,-U.S.-, 99 S.Ct. 316, 58 L.Ed.2d 322 (1978) (Friendly, J., dissenting from the holding as to liability); Brown v. Ivarans Rederi A/S, 545 F.2d 854, 863 n.10 (3d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 969, 97 S.Ct. 1652, 52 L.Ed.2d 361 (1977), but as this court recognized in Griffith v. Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corp., 521 F.2d 31, 43 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1054, 96 S.Ct. 785, 46 L.Ed.2d 643 (1976), “[t]he vessel, even a vessel which is an employer under the Act, is relieved of liability for negligence of persons engaged in providing stevedoring services, but is not relieved of liability for its own [owner] occasioned negligence.” The holding in Napoli was properly predicated upon the determination that a vessel is liable for its own negligence, and the negligence standards suggested in Napoli are applicable to vessels whether they act as their own stevedore or not.

. 536 F.2d at 509.

. The court in Griffith v. Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corp., 521 F.2d 31, 44-45 (3d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1054, 96 S.Ct. 785, 46 L.Ed.2d 643 (1976), specifically refrained from announcing the duty owed by a vessel in a section 5(b) action.

. 545 F.2d at 863 (footnotes omitted).

. Id. at 863 n.10.

. The fact that the employer of an independent contractor may be liable for physical harm caused to another by an act or omission of the contractor or his servants, as set forth in Restatement II §§ 409-29, does not preclude the imposition of liability, under Restatement II §§ 343-343A, on a landowner who hires an independent contractor to perform work on the landowner’s property.

. H.R. Rep. No. 92-1441, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in, [1972] U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News, pp. 4698, 4704.

. This would mean that the openness and obviousness of a dangerous condition aboard the vessel would not necessarily be sufficient to discharge the vessel from liability. An inquiry into the relative fault of the vessel, stevedore, and longshoreman would be required, one which considered whether the vessel knew of the dangerous condition and might have remedied it, and whether it knew that the stevedore and the longshoreman were unlikely to take proper precautions. See Frasca v. Prudential-Grace Lines, Inc., 394 F.Supp. 1092 (D.Md. 1975).

. See, e. g., Napoli v. (Transpacific Carriers Corp. and Universal Cargo Carriers, Inc.) Hellenic Lines, Ltd., 536 F.2d 505, 508-09 (2d Cir. 1976); Riddle v. Exxon Transportation Co., 563 F.2d 1103, 1111-12 (4th Cir. 1977). See also Robertson, Negligence Actions by Longshoremen Against Shipowners Under the 1972 Amendments to the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 7 J. Maritime L. & Commerce 447, 456-57 (1976); Robertson, supra note 16, at 11-14.

. The Hurst court properly determined that Restatement II §§ 416-29 should not form the basis for vessel liability since they are rules of vicarious liability, the application of which would impose on the vessel the sort of nondelegable duty that Congress intended to abolish by the 1972 amendments. Hurst v. Triad Shipping Co., 554 F.2d 1237, 1250-51 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 861, 98 S.Ct. 188, 54 L.Ed.2d 134 (1977).

. But see Hess v. Upper Mississippi Towing Corp., 559 F.2d 1030 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 924, 98 S.Ct. 1489, 55 L.Ed.2d 518 (1978), criticized in, Robertson, supra note 16, at 16-18.

. See Munoz v. Flota Mercante Grancolombia-na, S.A., 553 F.2d 837 (2d Cir. 1977) (vessel not liable under §§ 343-343A for latent defects created by stevedore).

. Illustrative of the scope of liability which Congress intended under the 1972 Amendments is the following excerpt from the legislative history:
Permitting actions against the vessel based on negligence will meet the objective of encouraging safety because the vessel will still be required to exercise the same care as a land-based person in providing a safe place to work. Thus, nothing in this bill is intended to derogate from the vessel’s responsibility to take appropriate corrective action where it knows or should have known about a dangerous condition.
So, for example, where a longshoreman slips on an oil spill on a vessel’s deck and is injured, the proposed amendments to Section 5 would still permit an action against the vessel for negligence. To recover he must establish that: 1) the vessel put the foreign substance on the deck, or knew that it was there, and willfully or negligently failed to remove it; or 2) the foreign substance had been on the deck for such a period of time that it should have been discovered and removed by the vessel in the exercise of reasonable care by the vessel under the circumstances. The vessel will not be chargeable with the negligence of the stevedore or employees of the stevedore.
S.Rep. No. 92-1125, 92d Cong., 2d Sess. 10-11 (1972).

. See Canizzo v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 579 F.2d 682 (2d Cir. 1978), cert. denied,-U.S.-, 99 S.Ct. 316, 58 L.Ed.2d 322 (1978); Napoli v. (Transpacific Carriers Corp. and Universal Cargo Carriers, Inc.) Hellenic Lines, Ltd., 536 F.2d 505 (2d Cir. 1976); Darwin v. United States, 435 F.Supp. 501 (N.D.Cal.1977); Davis v. Inca Compania Naviera S.A., 440 F.Supp. 448 (W.D. Wash. 1977); Dodge v. Mitsui Shintaku Ginko, K. K., No. 73-852 (D.Or.1974), aff’d 528 F.2d 669 (9th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 944, 96 S.Ct. 1685, 48 L.Ed.2d 188 (1976).

. Maj. Op. at 553.

. See Gutierrez v. Waterman Steamship Corp., 373 U.S. 206, 213, 83 S.Ct. 1185, 1190, 10 L.Ed.2d 297 (1963) (“These cases all reveal a proper application of the seaworthiness doctrine, which is in essence that things about a ship, whether the hull, the decks, the machinery, the tools furnished, the stowage, or the cargo containers, must be reasonably fit for the purpose for which they are to be used.”).

. In Espinoza v. United States Lines, Inc., 444 F.Supp. 405 (S.D.N.Y.1978), the court entered judgment notwithstanding the verdict for the vessel in a case where the longshoreman sustained injuries from falling off a defective container. This decision was not based on the ground that a vessel owes no duty to longshoremen with respect to the condition of containers, but rather on the fact the injury “occurred during the loading of the [vessel], and there was no evidence offered to support any claim that the shipowner’s agents had actual knowledge of the alleged depression or dent in the top of the container.” Id. at 414.

. E. g., Canizzo v. Farrell Lines, Inc., 579 F.2d 682 (2d Cir. 1978), cert. denied,-U.S.-, 99 S.Ct. 316, 58 L.Ed.2d 322 (1978).

. For a discussion of containerization and its effects on labor practices in the stevedoring industry, see Case Comment, 90 Harv.L.Rev. 815 (1977).

. See Trial Brief for Plaintiff at 33-38.
On appeal, this court will not normally consider errors not raised below, Faudree v. Gravel Co., 315 F.2d 647 (3d Cir. 1963), in part so that the district court may have an opportunity to avoid error. See 9 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 2472 at 454-56 (1971). The policies underlying this rule are of even greater relevance when a party before the district court specifically disavows a legal theory upon which his case might have been presented.

. Rich argued in the district court that the vessel retained control of the stevedore’s activities and that it was negligent in the exercise of this control, thereby giving rise to liability under Restatement II § 414. I agree with the Majority’s rejection of this argument. See Maj. Op. at 549-551. Rich also argued in the district court, but not on appeal, that a vessel may be held liable under the standard set forth in Restatement II § 392, concerning chattels dangerous for their intended use. I do not believe that a vessel may be properly analogized to a chattel, nor do I think that a vessel is “used” by longshoremen within the meaning of the Restatement.