Aguilar v. Bollinger Shipyards, Inc.

833 F. Supp. 2d 582, 2012 A.M.C. 1958, 2011 WL 2457703, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63602
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJune 16, 2011
DocketCivil Action No. 07-5652
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 833 F. Supp. 2d 582 (Aguilar v. Bollinger Shipyards, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aguilar v. Bollinger Shipyards, Inc., 833 F. Supp. 2d 582, 2012 A.M.C. 1958, 2011 WL 2457703, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63602 (E.D. La. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

HELEN G. BERRIGAN, District Judge.

Liability issues in this matter was tried before the Court without a jury on April 11-13, 2011. Having considered the testimony, the evidence adduced at trial, the record and the law, the Court now finds in favor of the defendants on the issue of liability for the following reasons.

Background

The plaintiff, Luis Alonso Aguilar (“Aguilar”) is suing the defendants, Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. (“Bollinger”) and Blessey Marine Service, Inc. (“Blessey”) for personal injuries sustained on March 30, 2007, when he was working for Karl Senner, Inc. (“Senner”) as a service technician on board the M/V DREAMA KLAIBER, a vessel owned and operated by Blessey. At all material times, the vessel was at the Bollinger Quick Repair shipyard located on the Harvey Canal in Harvey, Louisiana undergoing repairs.

Aguilar was working alongside two Senner employees, Marlon Ferez (“Ferez”), service technician for Senner and lead service technician on this job, and Bradley Johnson (“Johnson”), a Senner helper. Senner had been contacted by Blessey to repair the Reintjes gears on the vessel because Senner is the exclusive North [585]*585American repair representative for Reintjes. The three Senner workers were in the process of reinstalling certain repaired gears in the starboard side of the engine room when the plaintiff was struck in the lower back by a falling I-beam that had been positioned above the engine room as a lifting point for the chain hoist and chains used to move the equipment into place. Aguilar sues Blessey as vessel owner under of the Longshore and Harbor-workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”), 33 U.S.C. § 905(b), and sues Bollinger under general maritime law for negligence; the claims were designated under Fed. R.Civ.P. 9(h) in amended complaint.1 Aguilar’s wife also fled a claim for loss of consortium.

Facts

The details provided by all the lay witness testimony varies little in significant respect from that provided by Ferez, the lead Senner technician on this job. Both Ferez and Aguilar were experienced Senner service technicians. Ferez testified that he worked with Blessey about 20 times a year during his employment with Senner, and with Blessey’s port engineer, Edward Jones (“Jones”), between 10-15 of those times. He testified that Jones exercised supervision or control over his work insofar as he ensured that the job is promptly done and the work was correctly completed. Rec. Doc 306 at 8. Although Senner provided tools, chain hoists and chain falls, Ferez testified that they were able to request other items they needed from Blessey when working on a Blessey vessel. Rec. Doc. 306 at 9.

On March 20, 2007, Ferez arrived on the MTV DREAMA KLAIBER in dry dock with its stacks removed, inspected the engines and reported to Jones that the gears needed repair because of damage to clutch parts. Jones approved the repair, and Ferez and Johnson began disassembly to remove only those parts needing repair. The gearbox and its parts are quite heavy, and required disassembly in order to remove the parts needing repair. Ferez testified that they normally attach their chain fall to padeyes or lifting points in the structure of the vessels to maneuver the gears and its parts during disassembly and reassembly. Rec. Doc. 306 at 14. Ferez testified that because a suitable padeye was not available on this vessel and using a chain was “unsafe,” Ferez requested from Jones “something like an A frame or a strong piece so we can put it across so we can have a lifting point.” Rec. Doc. 306 at 16. Jones returned “with a big I-beam” delivered by crane to the vessel. Ferez testified that maybe 4-6 men from Blessey and Bollinger assisted in shoving the beam, “[a]nd I told them, you know, move it a little bit and they jam it on top of the gearbox” on the starboard side above the engine room.2 Rec. Doc. 306 at 17. After successful disassembly on the starboard side, Ferez asked the same men to move the beam to the port side, completed another disassembly without incident, and left the vessel with the necessary parts for in-shop repair.

According to Ferez, the same beam and chain fall was used to reassemble the gears on March 30, 2007, after repair. Ferez began on the port side because the beam was already in place there, and reas[586]*586sembled without incident. Ferez recalled that Aguilar arrived in the afternoon at a time when Ferez was almost done with the port side and he had requested help from the same men who previously helped him move the beam. Ferez testified that he was involved in moving the beam. Rec. Doc. 306 at 41. After the beam was placed, Ferez testified that they hung chain falls on it and that he and Aguilar began hoisting pinions for reassembly using the chain fall coordinated with each other. During the second lift, the accident occurred.

Ferez testified that at no time prior to the accident did Ferez anticipate any problem with using the beam as a lifting point. He testified that the beam could have been welded or drilled and bolted into place “to have it 100 percent secure.” Rec. Doc. 30 at 34. He testified that no one from Blessey or Bollinger gave him instructions to do anything with regard to the beam, and that he did not recall ever using an I-beam as a lifting point before. Rec. Doc. 306 at 34-35.

On cross-examination, however, Ferez testified that he was the Senner employee in charge of the gearbox and gave instructions to Aguilar and Johnson. At first, Ferez admitted that he made decisions as to how to rig the maneuver “in part,” while admitting that he made the decision how to attach the chain fall. Rec. Doc. 306 at 39. Ferez also testified that at some point he asked Jones if they could get something else, but that he never objected to the placement or use of the I-beam as a lifting point. Rec. Doc. 306 at 40.

Ferez candidly stated on cross-examination that he was “100 percent satisfied with the beam and its placement and its securing before [Ferez] and Mr. Aguilar began lifting that gear ...” Rec. Doc. 306 at 41. He agreed that he was “the one who decided exactly where to place the beam, that is how to position it, where to angle it, how to position it, [he was] the one who decided where to place it in order to accomplish the lift that [he] wanted to make ...” Rec. Doc. 306 at 41-42. He estimated that Senner employees made about 18-19 safe lifts using the beam prior to the accident and agreed that he was “personally satisfied” that the operation was safe. Rec. Doc. 306 at 48. He evaluated the options and determined which lifting point to use. Rec. Doc. 306 at 55-57. Ferez recognized that he had the responsibility as lead member to stop work on the gear replacement job if he saw anything dangerous. Rec. Doc. 306 at 58-60. He testified that he did not think he needed a welder to secure the beam and never asked anyone else to inspect the security of the chain fall on the last lift. Rec. Doc. 306 at 62.

Ferez admitted that he and Aguilar were partially at fault in causing the accident because their pulls were not coordinated correctly, but denied that he knew they could move the beam enough for it to fall. Rec. Doc. 306 at 50. At no time did Ferez think that it was unsafe to have the beam above them while they were working. Rec. Doc. 306 at 90.

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833 F. Supp. 2d 582, 2012 A.M.C. 1958, 2011 WL 2457703, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aguilar-v-bollinger-shipyards-inc-laed-2011.