Sistrunk v. Circle Bar Drilling Co.

770 F.2d 455, 1986 A.M.C. 2286
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided September 9, 1985·No. No. 84-3671·Published·Cited by 45 cases

Opinion

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge:

The sole question presented in this appeal is whether parents of seamen can recover nonpecuniary damages in a cause of action under general maritime law for wrongful death where the seamen were killed in territorial waters and were survived by spouses and/or children. The district court held that the parents could recover. We reverse.

I.

On August 8, 1980, Circle Bar Rig No. 8, a drilling vessel owned by Circle Bar Drilling Co., capsized in the territorial waters of the State of Louisiana. Among the crew-members who drowned were the Sistrunk brothers, Michael Glenn and David Brian, and Clifford Rutland. Michael Sistrunk was survived by a widow, children, and his parents. David Sistrunk was survived by a widow and his parents. Clifford Rutland was survived by his widow, children, and mother.

The widows were appointed as the representatives of their deceased husbands’ estates and filed wrongful death actions under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688 (1982), for negligence and under general maritime law for unseaworthiness. The parents joined in these actions seeking nonpecuniary damages for the loss of their sons’ society. None of the parents were financially dependent on their sons at the time of the casualty.

In denying Circle Bar’s motion for summary judgment, the district court held that the parents had a cause of action for loss of society under Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., 398 U.S. 375, 90 S.Ct. 1772, 26 L.Ed.2d 339 (1970). Thereafter, all of the claims of the widows and children were settled. Judgment in favor of the parents was entered after Circle Bar and the parents stipulated that the vessel was unseaworthy and the quantum of damages.1

II.

The sole cause of action under which the parents may recover is the general maritime law cause of action for wrongful death announced in Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., 398 U.S. 375, 90 S.Ct. 1772, 26 L.Ed.2d 339 (1970). Other possible causes of action do not provide a remedy for the parents. The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), 46 U.S.C. §§ 761-768 (1982), does not apply to deaths occurring, as here, in territorial waters and limits recovery to pecuniary damages, 46 U.S.C. § 762 (1982). The Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688 (1982), is not available, because parents can recover only when the seaman is not survived by a spouse or children, 45 U.S.C. § 51 (1982). Finally, the Louisiana wrongful death statute, La.Civ.Code Ann. art. 2315 (West Supp.1985), is supplanted in [457] maritime wrongful deaths by the general maritime cause of action for wrongful death created in Moragne. Matter of S/S Helena, 529 F.2d 744, 753 (5th Cir.1976).

Because the parents’ remedy is exclusively under Moragne, we begin with a discussion of that case. In The Harrisburg, 119 U.S. 199, 7 S.Ct. 140, 30 L.Ed. 358 (1866), the Supreme Court held that general maritime law did not provide a cause of action for wrongful death. As a result, there was no remedy for death on the high seas caused by the breach of a maritime duty. If the death occurred in territorial waters, federal law allowed the survivors to recover under the adjacent state’s wrongful death statute. Moragne, 398 U.S. at 393, 90 S.Ct. at 1784, 26 L.Ed.2d at 352. In an effort to provide seamen with a greater range of remedies, Congress in 1920 enacted DOHSA, ch. 111, §§ 1-8, 41 Stat. 537 (codified as amended at 46 U.S.C. §§ 761-768 (1982)), and the Jones Act, ch. 250, § 33, 41 Stat. 1007 (codified as amended at 46 U.S.C. § 688 (1982)). DOHSA, 46 U.S.C. § 761 (1982), creates a maritime cause of action for wrongful death on the high seas, and the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. § 688 (1982), provides a remedy at law against seamen’s employers for seamen injured or killed through the negligence of the employer. In 1964, the Supreme Court held that survivors of seamen killed in territorial waters could sue the deceased seamen’s employers only under the Jones Act, to the exclusion of state wrongful death statutes and claims based on unseaworthiness. Gillespie v. United States Steel Corp., 379 U.S. 148, 85 S.Ct. 308, 13 L.Ed.2d 199 (1964).

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Sistrunk v. Circle Bar Drilling Co., 770 F.2d 455, 1986 A.M.C. 2286 (5th Cir. 1985).

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