Tillman v. Lykes Bros. Steamship

732 F. Supp. 1402, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3171, 1990 WL 31758
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedFebruary 23, 1990
DocketCiv. A. No. H-87-2665
StatusPublished

This text of 732 F. Supp. 1402 (Tillman v. Lykes Bros. Steamship) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tillman v. Lykes Bros. Steamship, 732 F. Supp. 1402, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3171, 1990 WL 31758 (S.D. Tex. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LAKE, District Judge.

This case involves unseaworthiness and negligence claims brought by the survivors and estate of a deceased longshoreman against the shipowner for whom the longshoreman worked even though the longshoreman lost a similar case before he died.

Facts and Procedural History

In 1982 Alex Tillman brought an unseaworthiness and negligence action against Lykes Bros. Steamship Co., Inc. in this Court for personal injuries from asbestos exposure. Tillman v. Lykes Bros. S.S. Co., Inc., C.A. No. H-82-1091. Tillman alleged that during the course of his employment as a longshoreman with Lykes from 1950 until 1971 he was exposed to asbestos on a daily basis working around asbestos insulation on Lykes’ vessels and unloading asbestos from Lykes’ vessels. Tillman claimed that he suffered from asbestosis as a result of this exposure. His case was tried in 1984, and Judge Robert O’Conor found that Tillman “does not have [1404]*1404asbestosis” and that he “has not suffered an injury as a result of any negligence or unseaworthiness of the vessels of Defendant.” A final, take-nothing, judgment was entered against Tillman on March 19, 1984. There was no appeal from the judgment.

On November 28, 1986, Alex Tillman died. On August 21, 1987, his widow, Ethylene Tillman, individually, and as representative of Alex Tillman’s estate, brought the present action against Lykes for unseaworthiness and negligence. Her complaint was amended to add similar claims by Alex Tillman’s three adult children. Plaintiffs seek to recover three types of damages allegedly arising from Alex Tillman’s death from asbestosis:

(1) all plaintiffs seek damages because of the unseaworthiness of Lykes’ vessels;
(2) the Estate of Alex Tillman seeks damages, by way of a survival action, for Alex Tillman’s
(a) physical pain,
(b) mental anguish,
(c) medical expenses necessarily incurred in the treatment of his injuries, and
(d) lost earnings,
from the date of his injury until the date of his death; and
(3) all plaintiffs seek damages, by way of a maritime wrongful death action, for mental anguish, loss of society, loss of consortium, care, maintenance, support, services, advice, counsel, affection, solace, comfort, companionship and assistance, grief and bereavement.

Lykes moved for summary judgment asserting that (1) plaintiffs’ action for unseaworthiness is precluded by the 1972 amendments to the Longshoreman and Harbor Worker’s Compensation Act (“LHWCA”), (2) the survival action brought by the Estate of Alex Tillman is barred by the doctrine of res judicata, (3) plaintiffs’ alleged damages for mental anguish, grief and bereavement are not compensable under the general maritime law, and (4) plaintiffs are collaterally estopped from bringing this action by virtue of the previous judgment in H-82-1091.

Plaintiffs’ Unseaworthiness Claim

Before the 1972 amendments to the LHWCA, an injured longshoreman who performed work customarily performed by a seaman had a damage action against the owner of a vessel based on the unseaworthiness of the vessel. Castorina v. Lykes Bros. S.S. Co., Inc., 758 F.2d 1025, 1029 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 846, 106 S.Ct. 137, 88 L.Ed.2d 113 (1985), citing Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki, 328 U.S. 85, 66 S.Ct. 872, 90 L.Ed. 1099 (1946). In 1972 the LHWCA was amended to provide that "[t]he liability of the vessel under this subsection shall not be based upon the warranty of seaworthiness or a breach thereof at the time the injury occurred.” 33 U.S.C. § 905(b). As a result of this amendment a longshoreman’s unseaworthiness remedy against the vessel owner was abolished, and he was limited to bringing a negligence action against the vessel owner. The relevant date of injury for determining what remedies a plaintiff is afforded under the LHWCA is “the date that the disease actually manifests itself.” Castorina, 758 F.2d at 1031. If the date of manifestation is after the 1972 amendments, no cause of action based upon unseaworthiness may be maintained by a longshoreman under the LHWCA.

Lykes argues that plaintiffs are barred from bringing their unseaworthiness claim because Tillman’s disease did not manifest itself until after 1972. To support its argument Lykes cites the testimony of three physicians who testified in Alex Tillman’s earlier case. Dr. Eric Com-stock, a medical expert called by Tillman, testified by deposition that a diagnosis of asbestosis was either made or suspected in 1981, when Tillman was treated by another doctor for shortness of breath. (Docket Entry No. 35, Ex. E) At trial Dr. Com-stock testified that he diagnosed Tillman’s asbestos-related condition in February of 1983. Judge O’Conor’s Memorandum and Order recounts the trial testimony of Drs. Stanley Crawford and Paul Stevens, who concluded that Tillman did not then have asbestosis. Dr. Crawford testified that he found no evidence of asbestosis in 1971 [1405]*1405when he operated on Tillman’s left lung to remove a bullous lesion. Dr. Stevens testified that Tillman’s pleural thickening was caused by his 1961 and 1971 lung operations and by an infection in his left lung. Dr. Stevens testified that examination of a section of Tillman’s lung removed in the 1971 operation revealed no asbestos fibers.

Plaintiffs argue that their unseaworthiness remedies are not precluded by Casto-rina because Alex Tillman’s asbestosis manifested itself with symptoms before 1972 even though his injury was not diagnosed, or was not correctly diagnosed, until after 1972. This argument cannot withstand the holding in Castorina. Mr. Casto-rina was exposed to large amounts of asbestos dust on numerous occasions while offloading raw asbestos from vessels owned by Lykes and other shipping lines at the Port of Galveston from 1965 to May of 1972. In 1975 Castorina consulted a physician, complaining of wheezing in his chest and respiratory discomfort. Chest x-rays taken in 1975 and 1976 showed manifestations of asbestosis, and in 1979 Castorina was diagnosed with asbestosis. Castorina sued Lykes and other defendants in 1980 for breach of the warranty of seaworthiness under the LHWCA.

After a bench trial this Court held that the law applicable to Castorina’s suit was that in effect on the date Castorina was diagnosed with asbestosis. Since Castorina was diagnosed with asbestosis in 1979, the court found that the post-1972 LHWCA applied to his unseaworthiness claim, and that Lykes therefore owed no warranty of seaworthiness to Castorina. The Fifth Circuit agreed. 758 F.2d at 1029. It held that the date of injury for purposes of the LHWCA was the date that the disease manifested itself with a disability.

[I]n cases of occupational diseases with long latency periods, the trend is clearly toward the application of the time of manifestation rule ... Further, a worker who is exposed to asbestos or similar fibers does not always contract pulmonary disease.

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732 F. Supp. 1402, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3171, 1990 WL 31758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tillman-v-lykes-bros-steamship-txsd-1990.