Frankson v. Carter & Weeks Stevedoring Co.

9 F.R.D. 713, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3314
District Court, E.D. New York·Decided December 16, 1949·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

INCH, Chief Judge.

This is a motion for reargument of a motion in which an order was entered on November 7, 1949, denying plaintiff’s application to compel defendant’s representative to answer certain questions and upon such reargument to grant the relief originally sought.

Plaintiff, a steward on board the S. S. Telemachus, sues for personal injuries sustained by falling through a partly open hatch which he claims was negligently covered with a tarpaulin by defendant’s employees. Plaintiff’s version of the facts is as follows: on July 19, 1945 the ship was docked at a pier in New York City where defendant’s employees were loading cargo through hatch No. 3. At about 11 A.M. it started to rain and defendant’s longshoremen half covered the hatch at the main deck, and reversing the covers, half covered the hatch at ’tween decks. Before leaving the hatch, the longshoremen covered both the closed portion and also the open portion of the ’tween decks hatch with a tarpaulin.

It is in that respect that plaintiff claims defendant’s employees were negligent, since they did not provide safeguards around the open part of the hatch and failed to cover the hatch properly and securely.

At about 11:30 A.M. or about one-half hour after defendant’s employees had left this hatch, the plaintiff and other stewards of the ship started to take on ship’s stores through the hatch. In the course of his work plaintiff stepped back onto the tarpaulin covering the open part of the ’tween decks hatch and fell through, sustaining serious injury.

In January 1949 plaintiff moved for a discovery and inspection under Rule 34, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U. S.C.A., and Judge Byers made an order on February 4, 1949, D.C., 9 F.R.D. 32, 33, granting the motion to the extent that defendant was directed to answer four in[715] terrogatories. At the end of his opinion Judge Byers stated:

“It seems to me that this is all the discovery from the defendant for which plaintiff has shown the good cause referred to in Rule 34, up to this time.
“To the foregoing extent, the motion is granted, otherwise denied.”

The fourth interrogatory stated: “4. Give the names and addresses of any persons in defendant’s employ or known to the defendant, who were witnesses to the accident.” Defendant’s answer to that interrogatory was “None”.

Thereafter in March, 1949 plaintiff made a motion for “an order directing defendant to further answer interrogatories as directed in the order of February 4th, 1949.” One of the items of information which plaintiff requested that defendant be directed to furnish was “(a) the names and addresses of all witnesses in this case, whether eyewitnesses or otherwise, if * motion papers indicate plaintiff was seeking to obtain the names and addresses of defendant’s stevedoring gang which left the hatch one-half hour before the accident.

Judge Kennedy referred the motion to Judge Byers who denied it, without opinion, in an order dated March 31, 1949.

Then on May 4, 1949 plaintiff’s counsel served notice upon defendant’s counsel pursuant to Rule 26 that he would take the testimony of an officer and certain other employees of the defendant. By agreement between the parties the defendant produced one of its officers whose testimony was .taken. On advice of counsel the witness refused to answer any questions concerning the names and addresses of defendant’s employees who were working at the hatchj prior to the accident. The ground of the objection was that Judge Byers had denied plaintiff’s application for the same information and that plaintiff was attempting to obtain it in another way and in violation of that order.

Plaintiff then made a motion (apparently under Rule 37) to compel the witness to answer. The motion was denied by me by an order dated November 7, 1949 with the following memorandum: “The relief requested here has been before Judge Byers who has rendered his decision as to the extent it is made possible. I see no reason to review, if it was proper to do so, the order of Judge Byers. This motion is denied.”

Plaintiff now makes the instant application to reargue the motion and upon such reargument to grant the original relief requested. He contends that he did not intend to have the Court review the prior action of Judge Byers which was a different application in a different proceeding, but that this is simply an application to compel the witness to answer, under Rule 37, questions propounded to the witness in an oral examination under Rule 26. He says that under the Rules two remedies were open to him, one under Rule 34 for a discovery and inspection which is relatively restricted and which is granted only when “good cause” is shown, and the second under Rule 26 for an oral examination which is more liberally granted. His position is that having exhausted his remedy under Rule 34, he may now proceed under Rule 26 and that Judge Byers’ ruling on his application under Rule 34 is not res adjudicata as to the instant application, and finally that plaintiff is entitled to this information.

The defendant, on the other hand, contends that “the plaintiff’s repeated assertions that his first motion was for production and inspection is inaccurate. His first motion was to compel the defendant to answer interrogatories, giving the names and addresses of its employees at the hatch. Interrogatories are provided for by Rule 33, and it is that rule and not Rule 34, dealing with production of documents, which was involved. The essential question, therefore, is relationship between Rule 33 (interrogatories) and Rule 26 (oral examination).”. Defendant then argues that “it is now definitely settled that Rule 33 and Rule 26 have exactly the same scope. They provide for exactly the same relief except that under one the question [716] is in writing and under the other oral.” Thus defendant concludes that Judge Byers’ ruling on the written interrogatories is controlling on the decision of this motion.

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Frankson v. Carter & Weeks Stevedoring Co., 9 F.R.D. 713, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3314 (E.D.N.Y. 1949).

9 F.R.D. 713 (Frankson v. Carter & Weeks Stevedoring Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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