Old Dominion Stevedoring Corporation v. Polskie Linie Oceaniczne, John H. Newby v. Polskie Linie Oceaniczne

386 F.2d 193
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedDecember 18, 1967
Docket10103_1
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 386 F.2d 193 (Old Dominion Stevedoring Corporation v. Polskie Linie Oceaniczne, John H. Newby v. Polskie Linie Oceaniczne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Old Dominion Stevedoring Corporation v. Polskie Linie Oceaniczne, John H. Newby v. Polskie Linie Oceaniczne, 386 F.2d 193 (4th Cir. 1967).

Opinions

BOREMAN, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff John Newby brought a civil action against Polskie Linie Oceaniczne for damages for personal injuries sustained by him while working as a longshoreman aboard the defendant’s vessel M/V LELEWEL. Jurisdiction was grounded on diversity of citizenship and amount involved. The complaint was based on unseaworthiness and negligence. Defendant shipowner impleaded Newby’s employer, Old Dominion Stevedoring Corporation, seeking complete indemnity, costs, and attorneys’ fees. Plaintiff’s negligence count was dismissed on his own motion. The case was submitted to a jury on the unseaworthiness count and the jury rendered a verdict against the shipowner in the amount of $4,000.00. Plaintiff appeals on the ground that the verdict was grossly inadequate and seeks a new trial on the sole issue of damages.

The impleader action was not submitted to the jury. Instead the court directed a verdict on motion of shipowner against Old Dominion for indemnifica[195]*195tion, holding that if the shipowner were found liable to plaintiff it followed as a matter of law on the evidence here that Old Dominion should indemnify the shipowner. Judgment was entered on the jury’s verdict and the court then entered judgment for the shipowner against the stevedore in the amount of $7,320.39— $4,000.00 representing plaintiff’s verdict and $3,320.39 representing costs and attorneys’ fees. Old Dominion appeals from this decision. We affirm.

On February 1, 1964, longshoreman Newby was a “gang-header,” in charge of a group of eight longshoremen assigned to unload cargo from the vessel, LELE-WEL, docked in Norfolk. They were to begin by unloading an automobile and two large cartons from No. 2 ’tween-deck and then to discharge cargo from No. 2 lower hold. A shipment of large drums of syrup had been discharged from this No. 2 ’tween-deck when the vessel was in New York and during that operation one drum which had been damaged in passage spilled syrup on the ’tween-deck. The vessel’s crew had attempted to clean this area and to cover any slippery spots with sawdust. However, the substance had accumulated under the cargo remaining to be discharged and was not discovered until Newby and his co-workers began unloading operations. The “hatch-boss” in charge of all longshoremen assigned to the No. 2 hatch was Worth Wilson. The “foreman” in charge of all longshoremen then working the vessel was Aubrey Holland.

Newby, hatch -boss Wilson, and another longshoreman, Sam Scott, Jr., testified that they noticed a slippery substance on the ’tween-deck when they began the unloading operation. They stated that the longshoremen were slipping in it and had discussed the situation among themselves. Newby testified that upon noticing the substance he complained to Wilson. However, the work was not stopped because, in Wilson’s opinion, it did not seem to present a situation of ¡gan-ger. Wilson also stated that, sinpe only a few pieces .of cargo had to be-unloaded from that .area, he did not think it was necessary to stop the work and request the shipowner to remove the substance. However, foreman Holland stated that he did not enter or make any inspection in No. 2 hatch prior to Newby’s accident, but that if he had been aware of the presence of the syrup he would have stopped the operation and ordered its removal. In addition, Wilson admitted that he had authority to order that the unloading operation be stopped and that the syrupy substance be removed.

After the cargo from No. 2 ’tween-deck had been discharged, Newby began to descend a vertical ladder to the lower hold. He slipped and fell about fifteen feet, landing upon some logs at the foot of the ladder. Wilson testified that there was a substance on Newby’s shoes identical with the slippery substance on the floor of the ’tween-deck. However, foreman Holland and an officer of the vessel testified that they had examined the bottoms of Newby’s shoes following his fall and that they were clean; also, that the ladder was clean and dry. Newby suffered fractures of the second, third and fourth lumbar transverse processes on the left side, and a bruised left kidney. He spent twenty-one days in the hospital. In August 1964 he returned to farming which was his usual occupation. Prior to his accident he had worked nine or ten months as a longshoreman, whenever he could obtain such employment, earning $95.23 per week. His medical expenses were stipulated to be $914.40. Asserting that his special damages, including loss of wages, were $3,411.18, he argues that, since he was under a doctor’s care for a long period and because he experienced considerable pain and suffering, the sum of $588.82 — the difference between his special damages and the verdict — was grossly inadequate. At trial defendant shipowner disputed the seriousness of Newby’s injuries.

In the District Court Newby did not make a motion to have the verdict set aside and for a new trial on the grounds that the verdict was inadequate. He attacks no ruling, action- or omission of the District Court and appeals on the sole [196]*196ground that the jury’s verdict was inadequate.

The question of the amount of damages is one of fact to be resolved by the jury and cannot be reexamined in the court of appeals. St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Ferguson, 182 F.2d 949, 954-956 (8 Cir. 1950); Sanders v. Leech, 158 F.2d 486, 487 (5 Cir. 1946). This is not to say, however, that the jury’s determination of the quantum of damages may never be reviewed by the appellate court where the question is properly presented. The jury’s authority to fix the amount of damages is not arbitrary or unlimited. DeFoe v. Duhl, 286 F.2d 205, 207 (4 Cir. 1961). Contentions that the jury has abused or exceeded its authority must be addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court upon motion to set aside the verdict and for a new trial. Appeal may be taken after entry of judgment on the ground that the court’s disposition of such motion constituted an abuse of discretion.

Since the plaintiff failed to raise the issue properly in the District Court there is no question of law for this court to decide, and the verdict will not be disturbed.

We next consider Old Dominion’s appeal from the court’s entry of a directed verdict against it on the issue of indemnity. It is the stevedore’s contention that the shipowner brought about the defect which caused plaintiff’s injury and since it was aware of such defect the stevedore should not be made to indemnify the shipowner. It is also argued that the jury should have passed on the issue of whether the stevedore failed to perform its operation in a workmanlike manner.

In Weyerhaeuser Steamship Co. v. Na-cirema Operating Co., 355 U.S. 563, 78 S.Ct. 438, 2 L.Ed.2d 491 (1958), a third-party suit by a shipowner seeking indemnity from a stevedore, the Supreme Court stated that if a stevedore rendered a substandard performance of his contract with the shipowner “the latter was entitled to indemnity absent conduct on its part sufficient to preclude recovery." 355 U.S. at 567, 78 S.Ct. at 441.

In Weyerhaeuser, a longshoreman had recovered against the shipowner for injuries suffered when he was struck by a board which fell into a hold where he was working.

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Bluebook (online)
386 F.2d 193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/old-dominion-stevedoring-corporation-v-polskie-linie-oceaniczne-john-h-ca4-1967.