Rojas v. Robin

90 So. 2d 58, 230 La. 1096, 65 A.L.R. 2d 1218, 1956 La. LEXIS 1490
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 29, 1956
Docket42613, 42614
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 90 So. 2d 58 (Rojas v. Robin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rojas v. Robin, 90 So. 2d 58, 230 La. 1096, 65 A.L.R. 2d 1218, 1956 La. LEXIS 1490 (La. 1956).

Opinion

HAWTHORNE, Justice.

William N. Rojas seeks to recover $13,-700 from Vincent Robin III, alleging that the defendant breached a contract of lease by failing to return to plaintiff a boat named Miss Wendy and by failing to take all reasonable and necessary precautions for the preservation of the vessel while it was in his care, custody, and control. In the alternative only, plaintiff alleges that in the event the court should find that the defendant Robin was not acting for himself, then Robin was acting as agent for Eustis Engineering Company, a partnership composed of J. Bres Eustis and Charles Bragg, in the lease of the vessel, and the partnership is liable for the breach of the contract.

After trial on the merits the .district court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff and against the defendant Robin for the amount prayed for, $8,000 of this amount being for the value of the boat and $5,700 for deprivation of the use of the vessel and resultant loss of income. The suit against Eustis Engineering Company was dismissed. Robin appealed. Rojas also appealed so as to preserve all of his rights against the other defendant, Eustis Engineering Company, and in this court he prays that he have judgment against Eustis on his alternative demand if the judgment against Robin is reversed. 1

Robin is the owner of a fleet of boats which he rents. He also acts as agent for other boat owners in renting their boats and is paid a commission for handling their business. Knowing all these facts, Rojas listed his 30-foot cabin cruiser, Miss Wendy, with Robin and requested that the latter find a job for it.

Eustis Engineering Company, hereafter called Eustis, had a contract with the State of Louisiana to make test borings in the Mississippi River in connection with the foundation work on the new Mississippi River bridge to be located at New Orleans. In connection with this work Eustis had leased from Jack Neilson, who was also engaged in the boat rental business, a number of barges, which were anchored near the bank and extended out into the river. While this work was in progress, Bragg, one of the Eustis partners, got in touch with Neilson and requested him to furnish *1103 the partnership with a boat to, 'transfer workmen to and' from the' barges and the shore, and told Neilson that he wanted this boat on a 24-hour basis, with the operator of the boat to run the light plant which provided lights on the barges at night to protect them from traffic on the river. According to Bragg’s own testimony, he requested that Neilson secure a boat for him, and. this' request, according to'Bragg, gave Neilson the authority to rent the boat from someone else.

Upon receipt of this request from Bragg, Neilson, not having a boat of his own available, called the defendant Robin. Robin in turn got in touch with the plaintiff Rojas, owner of the boat Miss Wendy, and informed him that there was a job available for his boat which would last two or three weeks, and that Robin would receive the money paid by Eustis, out of which he would remit to Rojas $30 a day, keeping anything above that amount for his commission. Robin told Rojas to take his boat to the barges where Eustis was performing its work under the contract. Rojas did so the following morning, and was there told by the foreman in charge of the work what his duties 'were to be. In this connection Rojas was informed that the boat was to be on the job 24 hours a day transporting workmen from the barges to the shore both in the evening and in the morning, and that he, Rojas, was during the night to refuel the generator which furnished electricity for the lights on the barges.

Rojas remained on his boat and. performed his duties in connection with the lights for about six nights, and, according to Rojas, he then informed Eustis’ foreman that he could no longer tend the light plant. He also told Robin that he needed relief from his duties at night as he had another boat he had to take care of, and asked that a watchman be hired. Robin, according to his testimony, immediately called Neilson, and Neilson in turn called Bragg, one of the partners, who authorized the hiring of a watchman. Bragg admitted at the trial that he was contacted about this matter by Neilson, and according to Neil-son’s testimony Bragg told him to go ahead and tell Robin to get the watchman: Robin thereafter asked Alex Guidry whether he wanted to go to work, and when Guidry said he did, Robin took him to the Eustis job.

Although the testimony is in conflict as to'what the duties of the watchman were, and as to the duties and responsibilities of which Rojas was relieved, we are impressed by the testimony of a disinterested witness, Guidry, the watchman employed, who stated that he was told to stand watch over the barges and the boat Miss Wendy, and to run the light plant. After acting as watchman for a few nights, Guidry quit. ' According to his testimony, he informed Robin of this fact early in the *1105 morning. However, Robin denies this. Be that as it may, the next night — July 19 — the watchman did not come to work. According to Rojas, when he tied up his boat Miss Wendy to the barges at the end of the day, Robin was waiting for him and told him that the watchman had quit. Rojas informed Robin that he could not stay on the boat that night, and left. When Rojas returned to the barges the next morning, Miss Wendy was missing, and in spite of diligent search has never been found. This suit followed.

As this case concerns the rights of various individuals under a contract for the lease of a vessel operating on navigable waters — the Mississippi River — , we are of the opinion that maritime law must be applied to a solution of the problem here presented.

Article III, Section 2, of the Federal Constitution extends the judicial power of the United States to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and Article I, Section 8, confers upon the Congress the power to make all laws necessary to carry into execution the foregoing powers. Pursuant to these powers the Congress gave to the federal district courts exclusive original jurisdiction of civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors “all other remedies to which they are otherwise entitled.” 2 See 28 U.S.C.A. § 1333. As this is an action in personam on a maritime contract, and is not a proceeding in rem, the state court has concurrent jurisdiction with the federal district courts. See Johnson v. Chicago & Pacific Elevator Co., 119 U.S. 388, 7 S.Ct. 254, 30 L.Ed. 447; Madruga v. Superior Court of State of Cal., 346 U.S. 556, 74 S.Ct. 298, 98 L.Ed. 290; Benedict on Admiralty (6th ed. 1940) v. 1, c. IV. However, where a state court has jurisdiction of a suit involving a maritime contract, the state court must follow substantive maritime law. Madruga v. Superior Ct., supra; Garrett v. Moore McCormack Co., 317 U.S. 239, 63 S.Ct. 246, 87 L.Ed. 239; Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 37 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
90 So. 2d 58, 230 La. 1096, 65 A.L.R. 2d 1218, 1956 La. LEXIS 1490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rojas-v-robin-la-1956.