Kirby v. OMI Corp.

33 Fla. Supp. 2d 51
CourtCircuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida
DecidedMarch 1, 1989
DocketCase No. 86-10500-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 33 Fla. Supp. 2d 51 (Kirby v. OMI Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kirby v. OMI Corp., 33 Fla. Supp. 2d 51 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

FREDERICK B. TYGART, Circuit Judge.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR JUDGMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH MOTION FOR DIRECTED VERDICT

This is a maritime case arising under the provisions of the 1972 Amendments to the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, (hereinafter “LHWCA”), 33 U.S.C. Section 905(b). The plaintiff’s decedent, Roy Alan Kirby, Sr., (“Kirby”) was an employee of North Florida Shipyard, Inc. (the “shipyard”). He died as a result of an accident on board the OMI WABASH, an ocean-going vessel [52]*52owned by OMI Corp. (the “shipowner”), which was at the shipyard in Jacksonville for repairs during December 1985 and January 1986. The jury returned a verdict finding the shipowner and Mr. Kirby both negligent in the amounts of 75 percent and 25 percent respectively. Total damages were found to be $671,000. This Court accordingly entered judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $503,250, or 75 percent of $671,000. The shipowner timely moved for a judgment in accordance with motion for directed verdict under Rule 1.480, Rules of Civil Procedure, having made a motion for a directed verdict at the close of the plaintiff’s case which was renewed at the close of all of the evidence. In its motion, the shipowner challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to show that the shipowner was negligent and that such negligence was a legal cause of damage to the plaintiff.

I. FACTS

The relevant facts are undisputed. The accident occurred on January 15, 1986. The vessel was at the shipyard for repairs, primarily for conversion to a segregated ballast system. The shipyard had installed a dresser coupling in the cargo pipeline in No. 2 center tank during the course of the work,and the shipowner’s port engineer found the installation to be unsatisfactory. He communicated his dissatisfaction to the ship’s coordinator, an employee of the shipyard, who in turn instructed the shipyard and foreman to place stops and hangers on the dresser coupling and piping. It is clear that prior to the accident all parties had knowledge that the dresser coupling did not have adequate stops and stays. Mr. Kirby was thereafter in the process of placing a hanger on the pipe when the ship’s coordinator, Oland Cutchin, ordered the conducting of a hydrostatic test of the same piping on which Mr. Kirby was working. As water was forced through the pipes to conduct the test, the dresser coupling came off the pipe to which it had been affixed, and the bellmouth assembly struck and killed the plaintiff’s decedent. While the port engineer and crew may have had knowledge that a hydrostatic test would ultimately be conducted, no one from the shipowner was aware that the repairs were being made at the same time that the hydrostatic test was being conducted. In fact, Mr. Cutchin, the shipyard’s coordinator, testified as follows:

Q: Did the port engineer or anyone from the OMI WABASH have anything to do with scheduling that repair?
A: No, sir.
Q: Was that entirely up to the shipyard?
A: That’s entirely up to the shipyard. . . .
[53]*53Q: Had a decision been made to or was a decision made to conduct a hydrostatic test that day on the OMI WABASH?
A: Yes, sir. I made the decision. . . .
Q: Did the port engineer or anyone from the OMI WABASH have anything to do with scheduling that hydrostatic test?
A: No, sir. . . .
Q: Mr. Cutchin, did you know that Mr. Kirby was doing that repair at the time you made the decision to start the hydrostatic test.
A: No, sir. If I had of, I would not have started the hydrostatic test.
Q: And why is that?
A: Well, you’re never supposed to hydrostatically test a line if someone’s working on it. Never.
Q: As between the owner of the OMI WABASH and North Florida Shipyard, who was responsible for making sure that Mr. Kirby was not in that tank working on this pipe during the hydrostatic test?
A: Unfortunately we are, North Florida Shipyard.
Q: Was there anything inherently dangerous about installing hangers or stops on that line down in the number two tank?
A: Under normal circumstances, no sir.

The only question about which reasonable men could disagree is whether the shipowner failed to provide proper plans and specifications for the modifications to be performed on the vessel by the shipyard. There was conflicting testimony as to whether the plans and specifications reflected the proper supports and restraints for the installation of the dresser coupling and whether there should have been a dresser coupling at that location at all. What the plans and specifications called for was irrelevant, however, because the shipowner’s port engineer, Walter Gustafson, made it clear that the installation of the dresser coupling without supports and restrains was unsatisfactory. He testified:

Q: When you went down into the two center tank with Mr. O’Boyle and Mr. Hewitt, what happened down there?
A: The way the present installation was, it was unsatisfactory.
Q: Why was that?
A: Because there was no stops on the dresser coupling, plus . . .
Q: I’m sorry. Plus what?
[54]*54A: Plus the pipe and the line, the way it was installed would require additional supports.
Q: Was it satisfactory to you to use a dresser coupling in that location?
A: Not as it was installed.
Q: Was it satisfactory to you to use a dresser coupling installed in a different manner?
A: Only if it would meet the regulations.
Q: And what regulations?
A: Coast Guard regulations.
Q: Do you know specifically what regulations pertain to use of dresser couplings on cargo lines?
A: Yes.
Q: What are they?
A: The piping has to be properly supported and stops have to be installed. . . .
Q: When you say the pipe would have additional support, are you talking about connecting steel from the pipe to some other location?
A: To the structure of the vessel, yes.

It is undisputed that whatever defect there may have been in the plans and specifications was called to the shipyard’s attention and that the repairs in progress at the time of the accident were being made by the shipyard because the shipowner’s port engineer had rejected the existing work as unsatisfactory. He specifically required that the coupling and pipe have supports and restraints before the work would be accepted, which were the very elements that plaintiff alleged were missing from the plans furnished by the shipowner to the shipyard.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

West v. United States
361 U.S. 118 (Supreme Court, 1959)
Scindia Steam Navigation Co. v. De Los Santos
451 U.S. 156 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Helaire v. Mobil Oil Co.
709 F.2d 1031 (Fifth Circuit, 1983)
Casaceli v. Martech International, Inc.
774 F.2d 1322 (Fifth Circuit, 1985)
Peters v. Titan Navigation Co.
857 F.2d 1342 (Ninth Circuit, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 Fla. Supp. 2d 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kirby-v-omi-corp-flacirct-1989.