Sacillotto v. National Shipping Corp.

381 F. Supp. 558, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8286
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMay 30, 1974
DocketCiv. A. No. 70-777W
StatusPublished

This text of 381 F. Supp. 558 (Sacillotto v. National Shipping Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sacillotto v. National Shipping Corp., 381 F. Supp. 558, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8286 (D. Md. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

WATKINS, District Judge.

Henry A. Saeillotto has brought suit in this Court seeking to have it exercise its Admiralty jurisdicti''" Fed.R.Civ.P. Rule 9(h),1 in regard to an injury which he suffered in an accident while he was engaged in loading the SS Chen-ab. The Defendants have moved alternatively to dismiss the case for want of jurisdiction or for summary judgment. For the reasons set out below, Defendants’ motion to dismiss will be granted and the case dismissed.

The essential facts of this case are undisputed. Plaintiff, a longshoreman, was engaged in the loading process as an employee of the stevedore (third party defendant), John T. Clark & Co. At the time of the occurrence in question, Plaintiff and his work gang were endeavoring to remove from an open top gondola car, which was sitting alongside the SS Chenab, twenty foot long steel billets measuring four inches by four inches in width. These billets had been placed in the gondola car by the shipper 2 in two stacks, for balance, one over each set of wheels, and were stacked loosely or had been placed in the gondola ear with wooden chocks to separate them while still red hot, causing the chocks to burn out. In any event, they were “dumped in there loose” (Plaintiff’s deposition at p. 12) at the time of the unloading of the gondola and loading of the ship.

Plaintiff’s job on this particular day was to take a “breaking out” wire and place it underneath eighteen billets at a time which were then lifted up slightly allowing Plaintiff to put a wooden chock under the bunch. The lifting was performed by the ship’s boom. Normally, after the chock is put in, the billets are lifted higher and the wire is moved further along to prevent slippage and then [560]*560a chock is placed under the other end of the batch by another longshoreman to allow chains to be placed around the group of billets for lifting onto the ship. When the billets were lifted after chocking, a loose billet, one not in the batch being lifted, which had been bowed from the weight of the billets above it, sprang up and hit Plaintiff injuring him. (Plaintiff’s deposition at p. 26). According to Plaintiff, the actual cause of the accident was the failure to have chocks between the billets while in the gondola car and thus allowing such a bowing to occur from the weight of the billets scattered above it. (Plaintiff’s deposition at pp. 32-35). He testified that such bowing often occurs in unchocked loads but is unlikely to occur when chocks are properly placed between them. (Plaintiff’s deposition at p. 34). He further testified that the unloading was being done in the normal manner and that the ship’s gear was working properly. (Plaintiff’s deposition at pp. 25-26).

In his complaint, Plaintiff proceeded to allege in boiler plate fashion both the negligence of the Defendants and unseaworthiness of the vessel each based upon five possible theories (among others):

a. failing to provide the Plaintiff with a safe place to work;
b. failing to supply the Plaintiff with proper gear and safety equipment for working said cargo;
c. failing to provide the Plaintiff with a sufficient number of competent co-workers;
d. failing to inspect the working area where the work was performed so as to warn the Plaintiff of the dangerous conditions thereon;
e. failing to have a safe plan of operation.

In his answers to the interrogatories propounded to him, Plaintiff specified that his claim of unseaworthiness of the SS Chenab arises from ship Defendant’s :

1. failure to have a safe plan of operation in allowing the going cargo to be placed in the unsafe and dangerous condition;
2. failure to properly inspect the working area;
3. failure to warn Plaintiff of the dangerous and unsafe condition of the billets; and
4. failure to supply a safe place to work.

Thus, Plaintiff apparently has abandoned theories b and c of his unseaworthiness allegation.

Unseaworthiness arising from failure to inspect and warn of the discovered dangerousness of the going cargo is factually inapplicable since Plaintiff himself testified at deposition to having had a full awareness of the danger prior to the accident. (Plaintiff’s deposition at p. 24). The same reasoning would apply to these two theories of negligence.

Again from the facts it appears that neither the alleged failure to supply proper gear and safety equipment nor a sufficient number of competent co-workers contributed in any way to the accident. Plaintiff testified that the equipment was working properly and no demonstration has been made of a causal nexus between the actions or inactions of a co-worker and the injury to Plaintiff or that the use of an additional coworker might have prevented the accident.

Thus, the only remaining theories which are factually suitable for discussion of their legal merit are:

I. Negligence.
A. Failure to provide a safe place to work.
B. Failure to provide a safe plan of operation.
II. Unseaworthiness.
A. Failure to provide a safe place to work.
B. Failure to provide a safe plan of operation in allowing the going [561]*561cargo to be placed in an unsafe and dangerous condition.

Each of these possible theories is merely an attempt to put into “legalese” this basic question: Whether the ship can be held responsible for an injury to a longshoreman loading the ship which was the result of the cargo having been placed into a gondola for transport to the ship in a dangerous fashion where the injury occurs during that phase of the loading operation which transpired on shore. In other words, does the failure by the shipowners to prevent the shipper’s negligence from injuring Plaintiff either by developing a suitable plan of operation or possibly insisting that the shipper properly load the cargo in the gondola (i.e. require the gondola be a safe place to work), give rise to liability of the shipowner ?

It is clear that a defective or unsafe plan of operation for loading the ship can render a ship unseaworthy. Tucker v. Calmar Steamship Corporation, 457 F.2d 440 (4 Cir. 1972). Similarly, the failure to provide a reasonably safe place to work can render a ship unseaworthy. Croley v. Matson Navigation Company, 439 F.2d 788 (5 Cir. 1971), Calderola v. Cunard Steamship Co., 279 F.2d 475 (2 Cir. 1960). Either theory may, of course, constitute actionable negligence and generally, these duties are non-delegable. Petterson v. Alaska S.S. Co., Inc., 205 F.2d 478 (9 Cir.), aff’d Alaska S.S. Co., Inc. v. Petterson, 347 U.S. 396

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Bluebook (online)
381 F. Supp. 558, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sacillotto-v-national-shipping-corp-mdd-1974.