Curtis Michael Richendollar, Cross-Appellant v. Diamond M Drilling Company, Inc., Cross-Appellee, and Baker Marine Corporation

784 F.2d 580, 1987 A.M.C. 2619, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 22846
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided March 5, 1986·No. 84-2492·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinions

POLITZ, Circuit Judge:

Invoking diversity jurisdiction and asserting claims for: vessel unseaworthiness under general maritime law, injury to a member of the crew of a vessel under the Jones Act, and vessel negligence under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. § 905(b), Curtis Michael Richendollar sued his employer, Diamond M Drilling Company, and Baker Marine Corporation, a shipyard, for person[582] al injuries sustained in a fall. The claims under the Jones Act and general maritime law were voluntarily dismissed.1 The case was bifurcated for trial, tried first to the jury on liability and then on the quantum of damages. The jury returned a verdict for Richendollar against Diamond M but relieved Baker from any liability. Damages were set at $1,031,015 with a stipulated compensation intervention of $86,024. The trial court ordered a remittitur of $300,000 which the plaintiff accepted without protest. Both parties appeal. For the reasons assigned, we affirm all respects of the judgment except that relating to prejudgment interest which we vacate and remand.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In 1979 Baker undertook to build for Diamond M a jackup drilling rig, the DON E. McMAHON. The rig was constructed in Baker’s shipyard near Aransas Pass at Ingleside, Texas. The work began in November 1979; delivery was scheduled for June 1980, but construction fell behind schedule. It was important to Diamond M, for business reasons, to take delivery of the platform before the end of 1980 and to have it ready for transport to a site off the west coast of Africa in early 1981.

Because of the unexpected delay, Baker and Diamond M agreed that Diamond M could assign a crew to preload the drilling rig and prepare it for operations simultaneously with the Baker employees completing construction. Typically, “rigging up” by Diamond M employees would be accomplished after the shipyard personnel finished their work and the vessel was delivered. It was understood that in rigging up, Diamond M employees would not interfere with the work of Baker personnel.

Diamond M sent a 17-man crew, under its area manager. Bob Hart, to prepare the DON E. McMAHON for oil and gas drilling operations. The crew was supervised by a toolpusher, Roy Harrelson, who reported to Hart. Baker exercised no authority or control over Diamond M employees. The two crews were completely discrete and independent. The only commonality was that they all worked on or around the DON E. McMAHON. Richendollar was a welder on the special outfitting crew.

On October 17,1980, the DON E. McMAHON was 85% complete, on land, positioned on blocks. It had holes in its hull and was not capable of navigation. Harrelson ordered Richendollar and another Diamond M employee to weld a “hose station” on the starboard side. Richendollar located a work basket, a wire-screen basket he had seen others use, and tack-welded it to the rig to serve as his work platform while welding the hose station. As Richendollar was welding, the other employee jumped into the basket. The bottom of the basket, faultily welded and improperly designed, broke loose and Richendollar fell to the ground, sustaining injuries to his back and left wrist.

The evidence does not establish the owner or custodian of the basket when Richendollar took possession of it. The basket did not match those used by Baker employees. Richendollar did not get it from Baker and did not know who previously had used it. On the date of the accident, there were more than a dozen other companies working in the vicinity of the DON E. McMAHON. The basket could have belonged to any of them or to another company long-gone from the shipyard.

At conclusion of the liability phase, the jury cast Diamond M in judgment, finding that the DON E. McMAHON was a vessel and that negligence of the vessel was solely responsible for Richendollar’s injuries. The jury exonerated Baker, finding that [583] the shipyard neither owned nor controlled the basket, that it was not negligent, and that Richendollar was a shipyard licensee, not an invitee. The trial judge ultimately ordered a remittitur of $300,000 and denied prejudgment interest, concluding that even after the remittitur Richendollar had been “generously treated by the Jury” and “no additional recovery in the form of pre-judgment interest is supported by [Richendollar’s] needs.”

JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction must be noted. It would appear all have assumed that this case either presents a federal question, vesting 28 U.S.C. § 1331 jurisdiction, or rests on admiralty jurisdiction. Both assumptions are erroneous; there is neither federal question nor admiralty jurisdiction.

In Parker v. South Louisiana Contractors, Inc., 537 F.2d 113 (5th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 906, 97 S.Ct. 1175, 51 L.Ed.2d 582 (1977), we first addressed the jurisdictional aspects of the 1972 Amendments to the LHWCA, specifically § 5(b) of that Act, 33 U.S.C. § 905(b). We there held “that Congress did not intend section 905(b) to create a new or broader cause of action in admiralty____ Taken as a whole, the manifest purpose of section 905(b) is to curtail rather than expand the availability of third party actions in admiralty. With respect to third party actions for negligence, ... the boundaries of maritime jurisdiction as defined under prior law (e.g. Victory Carriers [404 U.S. 202 (1971)]) were neither expanded nor constricted____” Id. at 117. In Victory Carriers, Inc. v. Law, 404 U.S. 202, 92 S.Ct. 418, 30 L.Ed.2d 383 (1971), the Supreme Court restated the traditional rule:

The historic view of this Court has been that the maritime tort jurisdiction of the federal courts is determined by the locality of the accident and that maritime law governs only those torts occurring on the navigable waters of the United States.

Id. at 205, 92 S.Ct. at 421 (citing Thomas v. Lane, 23 F.Cas. 957 (C.C.Me.1813) (Story, J.)).

Citing Parker, we recently restated in Christoff v. Bergeron Industries, Inc., 748 F.2d 297, 298 (5th Cir.1984) “that § 905(b) neither extended the boundaries of traditional admiralty jurisdiction nor converted ordinary tort claims against vessels into federal questions independent of admiralty.” Accordingly, the presentation of a claim under § 905(b) does not automatically raise a federal question cognizable under 28 U.S.C. § 1331. The nature of the underlying claim must be considered, for that claim determines whether there is federal subject matter jurisdiction.

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Curtis Michael Richendollar, Cross-Appellant v. Diamond M Drilling Company, Inc., Cross-Appellee, and Baker Marine Corporation, 784 F.2d 580, 1987 A.M.C. 2619, 1986 U.S. App. LEXIS 22846 (5th Cir. 1986).

784 F.2d 580 (Curtis Michael Richendollar, Cross-Appellant v. Diamond M Drilling Company, Inc., Cross-Appellee, and Baker Marine Corporation) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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