Brown v. Stanwick Intern., Inc.

367 So. 2d 241
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 23, 1979
Docket77-1126
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 367 So. 2d 241 (Brown v. Stanwick Intern., Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Stanwick Intern., Inc., 367 So. 2d 241 (Fla. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

367 So.2d 241 (1979)

Chester G. BROWN, Jr., Appellant,
v.
STANWICK INTERNATIONAL, INC., and the Stanwick Corporation, Appellees.

No. 77-1126.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

January 23, 1979.
Rehearing Denied February 26, 1979.

High, Stack, Lazenby & Bender and Alan R. Dakan, Miami, for appellant.

Gilbride & Heller, Miami, for appellees.

Before HENDRY, BARKDULL and SCHWARTZ, JJ.

*242 SCHWARTZ, Judge.

Chester Brown was injured when a motorcycle he was riding swerved to avoid colliding with a truck. One should not think, however, that this so-far commonplace situation gives rise only to routine issues of law. For one thing, the accident occurred in Iran; for another, this case involves a suit by Brown against his employer under the maritime law. We hold that Brown is entitled to a jury trial on his claim for maintenance and cure, but is precluded from recovery upon his claims for Jones Act negligence, unseaworthiness and breach of his contract of employment by a conclusive showing of a lack of legal relationship between his employer's alleged wrongdoing and his injuries. Therefore, we affirm in part and reverse in part the summary judgment entered for his employer on all issues below.

In January, 1972, Brown, entered into a written employment contract with Stanwick International, Inc., under which he was to be employed:

"... by Stanwick International Inc. aboard the Imperial Iranian ship Chah Bahar, a repair ship based at Bandar Abbas, Iran, for the purpose of performing operational watchstanding duties on IIS Chah Bahar for a period of one year commencing January 22, 1972, and ending January 21, 1973.
It is agreed that the above individual shall perform operational watchstanding duties, training of Iranian personnel, and such other assignments as may be made by Stanwick International Inc... ."

The agreement also stated that Stanwick was to provide Brown with "living accommodations aboard the repair ship ..."

The Chah Bahar was a former U.S. Navy vessel which had been leased to the Iranian Navy on October 1, 1971. After that date, it had ridden in navigable waters at a dock at the naval base in Bandar Abbas. Although the navigational room was in full working order, its boiler room was inoperative so that it could not get under way on its own power and was capable only of being towed from place to place. While moored to the dock, it secured its power by a connection, the permanence of which was in dispute, with a shore-based electrical power source. It was, Brown said, "tied up just like any conventional ship would be." When Brown first arrived in Iran soon after his employment, he began repair work on the ship's boilers so as to attempt to make them and the vessel fully operational.[1] Subsequently, he began the duties for which he was hired, that is, to aid in the functioning of the "repair ship." The vessel was actually extensively used to repair other Iranian ships which came alongside, and acted as a means of training Iranian naval personnel in that pursuit. Despite the representation in the contract, it was immediately apparent that living accommodations were not available aboard the vessel; the presence of "vermin" rendered them uninhabitable. For a short time Brown and other Stanwick employees were billeted in officers' quarters at the base; later they were moved to a "team house" located about ten kilometers away. Brown lived there and commuted to his duties on board the ship until June 27, 1972. On that day, while working on the ship, he was instructed by his foreman to return to the team house to repair the boiler there. On his way, the accident occurred and Brown was seriously injured.

Claiming that he was a "seaman" engaged in the service of the vessel when the accident occurred, Brown sued Stanwick in the Dade County Circuit Court in a fourcount complaint. One count sought to recover "maintenance and cure." The three others prayed for personal injury damages on allegations of Jones Act[2] negligence, unseaworthiness and breach of the employment agreement respectively. All three of these theories were in turn based upon the failure of the defendant to maintain habitable or "seaworthy" living quarters aboard ship as agreed in the contract. The trial judge granted the defendant a summary *243 judgment as to all issues and Brown took this appeal.

The primary basis for the summary judgment seems to have been the conclusion that, as a matter of law, Brown was not a "seaman" at the time of the accident, thus establishing his inability to maintain an action for maintenance and cure, for negligence under the Jones Act, and for unseaworthiness. See Potashnick-Badgett Dredging Inc. v. Whitfield, 269 So.2d 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972), cert. denied, 272 So.2d 820 (Fla. 1973). We hold to the contrary that, at the least, a jury question was presented as to the plaintiff's legal status when the accident occurred.

In Offshore Co. v. Robison, 266 F.2d 769, 779 (5th Cir.1959), the Fifth Circuit stated an often-cited and still viable formulation of the standards by which one's status as a "seaman" is to be determined:

"... (1) if there is evidence that the injured workman was assigned permanently to a vessel (including special purpose structures not usually employed as a means of transport by water but designed to float on water) or performed a substantial part of his work on the vessel; and (2) if the capacity in which he was employed or the duties which he performed contributed to the function of the vessel or to the accomplishment of its mission or to the operation or welfare of the vessel in terms of its maintenance during its movement or during anchorage for its future trips." (emphasis supplied)

In this case, it is clear that Brown had a "more or less permanent connection with the vessel," see Wilkes v. Mississippi River Sand & Gravel Co., 202 F.2d 383 (6th Cir.1953), cert. denied, 346 U.S. 817, 74 S.Ct. 29, 98 L.Ed. 344 (1953), and that the duties which he contracted to and did in fact undertake directly "contributed to the function of the vessel [and] to the accomplishment of its mission ..." and were those traditionally performed by seamen. Potashnick-Badgett Dredging Inc. v. Whitfield, supra, at 269 So.2d 41. The real bone of contention therefore is whether the Chah Bahar itself was, as is also required, a "vessel ... in navigation." Warner v. Fish Meal Co., 548 F.2d 1193 (5th Cir.1977); Salgado v. M.J. Rudolph Corp., 514 F.2d 750, 754 (2d Cir.1975). We think this issue is properly for the jury.

There are, of course, numerous cases which have held the Jones Act and the unseaworthiness doctrine applicable to "special purpose structures" which are designed to float on water but which have no motive power of their own and do not perform the conventional functions of a vessel in carrying goods or passengers from place to place. E.g., Gianfala v. Texas Co., 350 U.S. 879, 76 S.Ct. 141, 100 L.Ed. 775 (1955) (submersible drilling barge); Senko v. LaCrosse Dredging Corp., 352 U.S. 370, 77 S.Ct. 415, 1 L.Ed.2d 404 (1957) (dredge); Butler v. Whiteman, 356 U.S. 271, 78 S.Ct.

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