Lowe v. California Co.

296 F. Supp. 1264, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10761
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 6, 1969
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 67-1804, 68-170
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 296 F. Supp. 1264 (Lowe v. California Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowe v. California Co., 296 F. Supp. 1264, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10761 (E.D. La. 1969).

Opinion

CASSIBRY, District Judge:

An offshore oil field worker seeks to recover for injuries suffered on a vessel that served as a tender for the stationary drilling platform where he principally performed his work as a welder’s [1266]*1266helper. The litigation concerns two suits which were consolidated for trial. In one, the worker, John W. Lowe, an employee of Plaquemines Equipment & Machine Co., Inc. (hereinafter referred to as Perneo), alleges a maritime tort claim against Chevron Oil Company, The California Company Division (hereinafter referred to as Chevron), the owner of the vessel on which he was injured, and Labor Services, Inc., a roustabout company working on the vessel for Chevron. Chevron and Labor Services filed a third-party complaint against Perneo, and Aetna Casualty & Surety Company intervened seeking reimbursement for workmen’s compensation benefits already paid to Lowe. In the other suit, Lowe, claiming to be a seaman, asserts a Jones Act claim against his employer, Perneo, and an unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner, Chevron. Perneo filed a third-party complaint against Labor Services and a cross-complaint against Chevron. The eases were settled with the plaintiff for $140,000, Perneo and Labor Services each agreeing to advance one-half of the settlement, with the issue of the apportionment of liability among Perneo, Labor Services and Chevron to be tried to the Court as if Lowe had continued this litigation. Determining the defendants’ respective liability is complicated by the insulation from suit provided Perneo by the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Act, 33 U.S.C. § 905, and the indemnity provided Chevron by both Perneo and Labor Services in their contracts. But before discussing these protective elements, it is first necessary to set forth the findings of fact — the framework for extricating liability out of this maze of immunities and indemnities.

FINDINGS OF FACT

The injury to plaintiff occurred aboard the Chevron LST S-22 on February 14, 1966, at about 7:30 P.M. in Block 41 Gulf of Mexico off of Plaque-mines Parish, Louisiana. The S-22, which provided supplies and living quarters for workers on the stationary oil and gas drilling platform, was moored bow to the rig. Labor Services, working under contract for Chevron, was engaged in transferring certain equipment from the S-22 to the rig through the operation of two winch machines, with controls at the midship and bow. Howard Walden, roustabout pusher for Labor Services, was operating the bew winch, whose controls are situated on the starboard side of the “tubing rack,” a platform built at the bow end of the S-22. The winch runners are arranged to transport the cargo over this tubing rack, as one of the tubing rack’s purposes is to steady the cargo by setting it down in the tubing rack before the run is made up to the rig.

A welding machine owned by Perneo (also working under contract for Chevron) was placed, at the direction of Perneo, on the starboard side of the tubing rack, and was being used exclusively by the Perneo crew to conduct certain welding operations on the rig structure. On the date of the accident, February 14, 1966, Pemco’s pusher, “Pete” Armand, had instructed Lowe to roll up the welding leads and turn off the machine preparatory to Pemco’s quitting work for the evening. Lowe crossed from the rig to the ship and went onto the tubing rack. Walden, who had moved a load to the rig which was being discharged, saw Lowe at the head of the steps of the tubing rack and, according to his testimony, assumed that the welding personnel were completing operations for the day and that Lowe was on the tubing rack to shut down the machine. Walden’s attention was then re-directed to his winch operations. Some three to four minutes later, the load had been discharged; Walden again looked and Lowe was no longer visibly present, although the welding machine was still running. The block on the runners was then brought back down to the tubing ráek level in ordinary course. While the runners usually can be kept taut when the load is being carried, upon the return there is necessarily a sag in the line caused by the weight of the runners [1267]*1267themselves when empty. As the slack in the line was being drawn in by the mid-ship winches, apparently the winch block caught under the skids of the welding machine and flipped it over onto Lowe, who was squatted down near the tubing rack floor level still attempting to shut off the machine.

In view of these facts and others to be delineated below, I find that both Pemco and Labor Services were proximately negligent in causing plaintiff’s injuries. Pemco not only was negligent in having had the welding machine placed in the path of the moving winch machinery, thereby creating an extremely hazardous condition, but also in having ordered Lowe — an inexperienced hand who had been in Pemeo’s employ for only three weeks, who had been awake for at least 20 hours, who had worked three overtime hours in addition to the regular twelve-hour shift, who had never worked offshore before, who had never turned the welding machine off before, who did not know to signal to stop the winches nor, for that matter, that the tubing rack was in the path of the winch runners, and who had not received any safety courses or instructions except that Pemco required its employees to wear hard hats and safety shoes — to shut down the machine without having signalled Walden or notified the pusher for Labor Services to stop the winches. Unquestionably Pemco breached its obligation to instruct this “untutored, inexperienced, green-hand” about the proper performance of his duties and to warn him of the hazards involved. Davis v. Parkhill-Goodloe Company, 302 F.2d 489, 491 (5th Cir. 1962). See also Justillian v. Versaggi, 169 F.Supp. 71 (S.D.Tex.1954).

Labor Services’ negligence is predicated upon the failure of its winch operator, Walden, to exercise proper care and caution in transporting equipment to and from the platform. Regardless of the presence of the welding machine, work on the tubing rack was dangerous, as any worker exposed himself to the danger of the moving runners. Placing the welding machine there increased this danger considerably; yet Labor Services took no additional safety precautions. Moreover, Walden saw the plaintiff come onto the tubing rack, assumed he was there to shut down the welding machine, and, because plaintiff was no longer visible, started down with the cables and block even though the machine was still running. Had Walden checked to see whether Lowe had left the tubing rack, as was clearly his duty under the circumstances, this accident would never have happened. Labor Services, therefore, was also negligent.

With regard to Chevron, the owner of the vessel, I find no negligence. Chevron took no part in the decisions to place the welding machine on the tubing rack and to continue the winch operations, which are solely attributable to Pemco and Labor Services. Nor is there any indication that Chevron failed to fulfill its obligation to provide the plaintiff a safe place in which to work.

JONES ACT CLAIM AGAINST PEMCO

Lowe’s employer, Pemco, having been found negligent, is potentially liable for Lowe’s injuries under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688, provided, of course, he is a “seaman” within the meaning of the Act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
296 F. Supp. 1264, 1969 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowe-v-california-co-laed-1969.