Alderman v. Pacific Northern Victor, Inc.

887 F. Supp. 1495, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20344, 1994 WL 804062
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Florida
DecidedSeptember 29, 1994
DocketNo. 93-50149-RV
StatusPublished

This text of 887 F. Supp. 1495 (Alderman v. Pacific Northern Victor, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alderman v. Pacific Northern Victor, Inc., 887 F. Supp. 1495, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20344, 1994 WL 804062 (N.D. Fla. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER

VINSON, District Judge.

Pending is the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, (doc. 12). For the reasons set forth below, the motion is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND

Except as noted, the following facts are undisputed in the record. Defendant Northern Victor, a general partnership, owns the M/V NORTHERN VICTOR, a vessel engaged in maritime commerce. Corporate defendants Pacific Northern Victor, Inc.; Marco Alaska Northern Victor, Inc.; John Johannassen Victor, Inc.; and Lloyd Johannassen Victor, Inc. are all partners in the Northern Victor partnership.

In early January of 1990, plaintiff James F. Alderman was employed to work aboard the M/V NORTHERN VICTOR, which at the time was docked and floating in navigable waters at the Eastern Shipyard in Allanten, Florida, where it was undergoing conversion from an oil drilling vessel to a fish processing vessel.1 Alderman states in his affidavit that he is a carpenter by training and experience, and that he was employed to help install an elevator on the M/V NORTHERN VICTOR. His job duties aboard the ship were similar to those, and involved similar skills to those, of his earlier land-based employment.

On February 5, 1990, Alderman had left the ship to obtain a ladder. After reboarding the vessel, he slipped and fell on a puddle of oil on deck. The foreman’s accident investigation report, which was completed at the time of the accident, reveals that the oil was from a codfish heading machine which was on deck.

The plaintiff filed his complaint in state court on June 1, 1993, alleging that he had sustained injuries in his fall due to the negligence of the defendants. The defendants timely removed the case to this Court on the basis of diversity of citizenship and admiralty jurisdiction. The defendants have moved for summary judgment, alleging that this cause of action is a maritime tort within this Court’s admiralty jurisdiction, and that the applicable statute of limitations had expired prior to the commencement of the action.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Summary Judgment Standard

A motion for summary judgment should be granted when “the pleadings, depositions, an[1497]*1497swers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Rule 56(c), Fed.R.Civ.P. As the Supreme Court of the United States has instructed, “the plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552, 91 L.Ed.2d 265, 273 (1986); Everett v. Napper, 833 F.2d 1507, 1510 (11th Cir.1987).

However, summary judgment is improper “[i]f a reasonable fact finder could draw more than one inference from the facts, and that inference creates a genuine issue of material fact.” Cornelius v. Highland Lake, 880 F.2d 348, 351 (11th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1066, 110 S.Ct. 1784, 108 L.Ed.2d 785 (1990). An issue of fact is “material” if it might affect the outcome of the ease under the governing law. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202, 211 (1986). It is “genuine” if the record taken as a whole could lead a rational trier of fact to find for the non-moving party. Id. See also Matsushita Electric Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538, 552 (1986).

On summary judgment motion, the record and all inferences that can be drawn from it must be viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Souran v. Travelers Ins. Co., 982 F.2d 1497, 1502 (11th Cir.1993). Furthermore, the court must consider the entire record in the case, not just those pieces of evidence which have been singled out for attention by the parties. See Clinkscales v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 831 F.2d 1565, 1570 (11th Cir.1987).

B. Maritime Torts

The dispositive issue here is whether plaintiff Alderman’s negligence claim for his alleged injuries suffered abroad the M/V NORTHERN VICTOR constitutes a maritime tort. The parties agree that if the claim is within the admiralty jurisdiction of this court, and thus governed by federal maritime law, the statute of limitations has run, and the claim is time barred.

For many years, the question of whether a tort claim was within the admiralty jurisdiction of the federal district courts was determined solely by the situs of the incident giving rise to the claim. “Every species of tort, however occurring, and whether on board a vessel or not, if upon the high seas or navigable waters, is of admiralty cognizance.” The Plymouth, 70 U.S. (3 Wall.) 20, 36, 18 L.Ed. 125 (1866). However, in 1972, the Supreme Court of the United States modified the maritime tort jurisdictional requirements. Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, 409 U.S. 249, 93 S.Ct. 493, 34 L.Ed.2d 454 (1972). In addition to satisfying the navigable waters locality test, “the wrong [must] bear a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity.” 409 U.S. at 268, 93 S.Ct. at 504, 34 L.Ed.2d at 467. The second prong of the Executive Jet test is commonly known as the “nexus” test.

The Supreme Court clarified the Executive Jet nexus test in two subsequent cases, Foremost Insurance Co. v. Richardson, 457 U.S. 668, 102 S.Ct. 2654, 73 L.Ed.2d 300 (1982), and Sisson v. Ruby, 497 U.S. 358, 110 S.Ct. 2892, 111 L.Ed.2d 292 (1990). As outlined in Sisson, to satisfy the nexus test, the activity from which the incident arose must (1) have a substantial relationship to a traditional maritime activity, and (2) have a potentially (not necessarily actually) disruptive impact on maritime commerce. 497 U.S. at 364-365, 110 S.Ct. at 2896-97, 111 L.Ed.2d at 300-01. As Justice Scalia anticipated in Sisson, the amorphous standards of Executive Jet and its progeny have been difficult to apply, and have led to “complication and uncertainty in the law.” 497 U.S. at 373, 110 S.Ct. at 2901, 111 L.Ed.2d at 306 (Scalia, J., concurring).

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Related

The Plymouth
70 U.S. 20 (Supreme Court, 1866)
New Bedford Dry Dock Co. v. Purdy
258 U.S. 96 (Supreme Court, 1922)
Kossick v. United Fruit Co.
365 U.S. 731 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland
409 U.S. 249 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Foremost Insurance v. Richardson
457 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Sisson v. Ruby
497 U.S. 358 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Everett v. Napper
833 F.2d 1507 (Eleventh Circuit, 1987)
Cochran v. E.I. duPont de Nemours
933 F.2d 1533 (Eleventh Circuit, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
887 F. Supp. 1495, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20344, 1994 WL 804062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alderman-v-pacific-northern-victor-inc-flnd-1994.