Radan v. Stolt-Nielsen, Inc.

136 So. 3d 892, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0833, 2014 WL 700213, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 355
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 12, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-CA-0833
StatusPublished

This text of 136 So. 3d 892 (Radan v. Stolt-Nielsen, 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
Radan v. Stolt-Nielsen, Inc., 136 So. 3d 892, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0833, 2014 WL 700213, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 355 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

MADELEINE M. LANDRIEU, Judge.

LThe plaintiff, Boris Radan, appeals the trial court’s granting of summary judgment dismissing his case against defendant Port Ship Service, Inc. (“Port Ship”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Mr. Radan, a Croatian seaman who serving as Chief Engineer aboard a cargo ship, the M/V Stolt Pride, injured himself when he fell eight or more feet from a pilot’s ladder while attempting to disembark from the Stolt Pride onto the deck of a crewboat, the Little Ray, which was going to transport him to shore. When [894]*894the accident occurred,1 the Stolt Pride was moored to the Kinder Morgan/Delta Terminal facility on the Mississippi River in Harvey, Louisiana. However, foreign crewmen were not allowed to exit vessels on the shore side by means of the gangplank because their travel through U.S. terminals was considered a national security risk. Hence, the Stolt Pride hired a water taxi, the Little Ray, and provided a pilot’s ladder2 for Mr. Radan’s use in making the approximately thirty-foot descent from the Stolt Pride to the Little Ray.

| ^Following the accident, Mr. Radan filed suit against his employer, Stolt-Nielsen;3 the owner/operators of the terminal facility, Kinder-Morgan;4 and the owner/operator of the Little Ray, Port Ship Service, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Port Ship”). Mr. Radan settled with Stolt-Nielsen and Kinder Morgan.

The remaining defendant, Port Ship, brought a motion for summary judgment asserting that it did not owe any applicable duty of care to Mr. Radan because the owner/operator of the Stolt Pride had the sole, non-delegable duty to ensure the safety of its crewmember in disembarking its ship. Alternatively, Port Ship argued that assuming it did owe a duty to Mr. Radan that it breached, the breach of this duty did not cause Mr. Radan’s accident. The matter was heard by the trial court on February 7, 2013. On February 21, 2013, the trial court issued a written judgment granting Port Ship’s motion for summary judgment and dismissing all the plaintiffs claims against it.5 In reasons included in the body of the judgment, the trial court found that Port Ship “had no duty to this seaman, Mr. Radan, for ingress and egress and thus cannot be held at fault.” The trial court further noted that Mr. Radan’s deposition testimony established that his fall had occurred as a result of his foot slipping off the ladder, and not as a result of any wrongdoing by Port Ship.

Mr. Radan now appeals this judgment.

|,ST AND ARP OF REVIEW/ APPLICABLE LAW

We review the granting of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standards used by the trial court. Indep. Fire Ins. Co. v. Sunbeam Corp., 99-2181, 99-2257, p. 7 (La.2/29/00), 755 So.2d 226, 230. Thus, the motion will be granted “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions, together with the affidavits, if any, admitted for purposes of the motion for summary judgment, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fact, and that mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” La. C.C.P. art. 966(B).

Although Mr. Radan, a Jones Act seaman, has elected to file his negligence suit in state court pursuant to the “saving to suitors” clause,6 the substantive law ap[895]*895plicable to his claims is the General Maritime Law. Milstead v. Diamond M Offshore, Inc., 95-2446, p. 7 (La.7/2/96), 676 So.2d 89, 94.7 State courts hearing maritime claims are free to apply their own rules and procedures, but they must apply maritime substantive law. See Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 37 S.Ct. 524, 61 L.Ed. 1086 (1917).

To establish negligence against a non-employer shipowner under the General Maritime Law, the plaintiff/ seaman must demonstrate that there was a duty owed to him by the defendant, a breach of that duty, injury sustained by the plaintiff, and a causal connection between the defendant’s conduct and the plaintiffs injury. In re Cooper/T. Smith, 929 F.2d 1073, 1077 (5th Cir.1991). | ¿Furthermore, the resultant harm must be reasonably foreseeable. Daigle v. Point Landing, Inc., 616 F.2d 825, 827 (5th Cir.1980).

ISSUES

On appeal, Mr. Radan argues that the trial court erred by: (1) finding that Port Ship owed no duty to him; and (2) improperly weighing disputed facts on summary judgment.

DISCUSSION

I. Whether Port Ship Owed a Duty to Mr. Radan

The trial court concluded that Port Ship had no duty to Mr. Radan based upon the long line of maritime jurisprudence holding that a shipowner/ Jones Act employer has a fundamental, non-delegable duty to provide its crew members with a reasonably safe means of ingress and egress from its vessels. See Massey v. Williams-McWilliams, Inc., 414 F.2d 675, 679 (5th Cir.1969) and cases cited therein. The Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal explained the scope of this duty in a case involving a worker on an oil rig8 who was injured while attempting to transfer from a crewboat to the rig:

A fundamental non-delegatable [sic] duty of a Jones Act employer is to supply a reasonably safe ingress and egress for its crew members to and from its vessel. Massey v. Williams-McWil-liams, Inc., 414 F.2d 675 (5th Cir.1969); see also, Hopson v. Texaco, 383 U.S. 262, 263, 86 S.Ct. 765, 15 L.Ed.2d 740 (1966) (holding Jones Act employer responsible for injuries a crew member sustained as a consequence of a cab driver’s negligence while transporting sick seaman from ship); Mounteer v. Marine Transport Lines, Inc., 463 F.Supp. 715 (S.D.N.Y.1979) (Jones Act employer responsible for cab driver’s negligence while transporting seamen to ship). We conclude, as the court in Massey, in similarly reviewing an accident involving the delivery of a seaman to the employer’s vessel, that this fundamental duty of the Jones Act employer may not be “palmed off onto the crew-boat.” Massey at 679.

Darker v. Sw. Offshore Corp., 32,606 (La. App. 2 Cir. 12/15/99), 763 So.2d 638, 643. In Parker, the appellate court reversed the trial court’s allocation of 35% liability to the crewboat owner and placed all the liability on the rig owner. The court ac[896]*896knowledged that the crewboat operator had a duty of reasonable care, but found that it had fulfilled that duty because the sea conditions were not unreasonably dangerous and the crewboat was properly positioned for the offloading of passengers. Id. at 643.

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Related

Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen
244 U.S. 205 (Supreme Court, 1916)
Hopson v. Texaco, Inc.
383 U.S. 262 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Daniel F. Daigle v. Point Landing, Inc.
616 F.2d 825 (Fifth Circuit, 1980)
Milstead v. Diamond M Offshore, Inc.
676 So. 2d 89 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1996)
Independent Fire Ins. Co. v. Sunbeam Corp.
755 So. 2d 226 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2000)
Mounteer v. Marine Transport Lines, Inc.
463 F. Supp. 715 (S.D. New York, 1979)
Parker v. Southwestern Offshore Corp.
763 So. 2d 638 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
136 So. 3d 892, 2013 La.App. 4 Cir. 0833, 2014 WL 700213, 2014 La. App. LEXIS 355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/radan-v-stolt-nielsen-inc-lactapp-2014.