Mitchell v. Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.

916 So. 2d 465, 2005 La. App. LEXIS 2333, 2005 WL 2864573
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 2, 2005
DocketNo. 05-396
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 916 So. 2d 465 (Mitchell v. Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., 916 So. 2d 465, 2005 La. App. LEXIS 2333, 2005 WL 2864573 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

COOKS, Judge.

11 This is an action to recover damages for personal injuries incurred by a seaman aboard an offshore drilling unit. Plaintiff sought recovery under the Jones Act, based on the negligence of plaintiffs employer, and under the general maritime law, based on the unseaworthiness of defendant’s vessel. At issue is the correctness of the jury’s verdict in favor of plaintiff finding the employer negligent and awarding damages to plaintiff in the sum of $630,000.00. For the following reasons, we affirm the jury’s verdict.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff, Norman Mitchell, was employed by Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., as a member of a crew working on an offshore drilling unit, the OCEAN SARA-TOGA. On December 15, 1999, plaintiff alleged he was injured while using a sledgehammer to drive a bushing into a rotary table on the drill floor of the OCEAN SARATOGA.

Plaintiff filed suit against Diamond, under the Jones Act, contending the OCEAN SARATOGA was unseaworthy because the bushings, which were previously repaired six months earlier, did not fit properly into the rotary table. Thus, a sledgehammer was required to drive the bushings into place. Plaintiff asserted this violated several safety policies.

Following four days of testimony, the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff finding Diamond was negligent. The jury denied plaintiffs claims against the OCEAN SARATOGA, finding the vessel was not unseaworthy. The jury awarded damages to plaintiff in the sum of $630,000.00. The trial court adopted the jury’s verdict as its judgment. Diamond appealed the judgment, asserting the following assignments of error:

I pi. The jury’s finding that Diamond was negligent was manifestly erroneous.
2. The trial court erred when it commented on the evidence during the jury charge and failed to allow adequate objection to the jury charge.
3. The trial court failed to consider Diamond’s Jury Verdict Questionnaire.
4. The trial court erred in not including on the jury verdict questionnaire questions relating to the issues of causation, negligence and unseaworthiness.
5. The trial court erred in using a visual aid while explaining certain jury interrogatories which contained hand-written damage amounts suggested by the plaintiff during closing argument, and which was brought into the jury room as part of the evidence.

ANALYSIS

I. Negligence on the Part of Diamond.

The following analysis of what constitutes negligence under the Jones Act was recited by the Louisiana Supreme Court in Foster v. Destin Trading Corp., 96-803, pp. 3-4 (La.10/21/97), 700 So.2d 199, 208 (on rehearing):

The Jones Act allows an injured seaman to bring a negligence suit against his employer. 46 U.S.C.App. § 688 (1994). The employer’s potential liability extends to all personal injuries arising during the course of the seaman’s employment, but proof of negligence is essential to recovery. See Id. Such neg[468]*468ligence may arise in many ways including the failure to use reasonable care to provide a seaman with a safe place to work, the existence of a dangerous condition on or about the vessel, or any other breach of the duty of care. See Davis v. Hill Engineering, Inc., 549 F.2d 314, 329 (5th Cir.1977); 1 Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Admiralty and Maritime .Law § 6-21, at 312 (2d ed.1994). The duty of care owed by an employer under the Jones Act is that of ordinary prudence, namely the duty to take reasonable care under the circumstances. Gautreaux v. Scurlock Marine, Inc., 107 F.3d 331, 335-36 (5th Cir.1997). The seaman bears the evidentiary burden of proving that a breach of the duty owed by the 'employer was a cause of his injuries. However, a seaman need only present “slight evidence” that his employer’s negligence caused his injuries in order, to reach the jury or to be sustained upon appellate review. Id. at 334-35. The employer can introduce evidence of the seaman’s own negligence to reduce damages through application of pure comparative fault principles. Like his employer, the seaman must meet the standard of ordinary prudence by acting as a reasonable seaman would act under the 13same circumstances. Id. at 339.

The manifest error-clearly wrong standard of review applies in Jones Act and general maritime cases. Muhammad v. Diamond Offshore Co., 02-0172 (La.App. 3 Cir. 7/10/02), 822 So.2d 869, writ denied, 02-2409 (La.11/27/02), 831 So.2d 279, cert. denied, 538 U.S. 1056, 123 S.Ct. 2215, 155 L.Ed.2d 1106 (2003); Ates v. Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc., 01-836 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/12/01), 801 So.2d 653, writ denied, 02-100 (La.3/15/02), 811 So.2d 915.

After a thorough review of the record, we cannot say the jury erred in finding Jones Act negligence on the part of Diamond. The jury was well within its province as the factfinder to determine there was a long-standing problem with the insert bushings fitting into the master bushings. There was evidence this fit problem was not repaired promptly by Diamond, which instead relied upon its workers slamming the bushings into place with a sledgehammer. The record supported the jury’s conclusion that this was a safety violation which constituted negligence on the part of Diamond.

Plaintiff testified the insert bushings did not seat properly when lowered into position by the Air Hoist. Plaintiff testified he and other crewmembers were ordered by their superiors to bang the insert bushings into place with a sixteen pound sledgehammer. Plaintiff stated he regularly complained to his superiors about the fit problem, but nothing was done. This problem lasted for a minimum of six months according to plaintiff. On December 15, 1999, plaintiff encountered difficulty getting an insert bushing to go down into the master bushing. He told his supervisor, John Hall, of the problem. Plaintiff stated Hall instructed him to beat on the bushing to get it down. According to plaintiff, he complied and used his sledgehammer to beat the first half of the bushing down, and while in the process of pounding on the second |4half he felt a “shock” that went through his “arm and went down my right side, down my back and down to my leg.”

Ryan Varnado was also a floorhand for Diamond at the time of the accident. On the date of his deposition, Varnado was still employed by Diamond. Varnado stated prior to and at the time of the accident, the insert bushing was not fitting properly into the master bushing. He was not positive as to the amount of time prior to the accident, but felt the fit problem began from the time the new master bushing was [469]*469put in place aboard the drilling rig. The record established the new master bushing referred to was shipped to the OCEAN SARATOGA on March 24, 1999, over eight months prior to the accident. Varnado testified that the fit problem, after the new master bushing arrived, required use of a sledgehammer to pound the insert bushings into place. Often, Varnado stated, he was required to use a sledgehammer in this manner, and John Hall instructed him on numerous occasions to use a sledgehammer to hammer the insert bushings into place.

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