Recent Development by John J. Michael
Shipyard contract worker Christopher Garris fell thirty feet onto the deck of the USNS MAJ. STEPHEN W. PLESS, sustaining severe injuries that led to his death one day later, on April 9, 1997. Garris was performing sandblasting work aboard the naval vessel, which was berthed at the Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. (Norshipco) shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. While Garris was standing on top of a thirty-foot-tall sand hopper, a crane operator working for E.T. Gresham, Inc. (Gresham), a Norshipco contractor, accidentally knocked Garris off balance, causing Garris to fall off the hopper to his ultimate death.
Because the PLESS was docked in navigable waters of the United States when he was fatally injured, Garris's mother invoked federal admiralty jurisdiction and brought suit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Norshipco and Gresham. Mrs. Garris sought recovery for wrongful death based upon negligence under general maritime law and the Virginia wrongful death statute. She alleged that the crane operator's negligence and Norshipco's inadequate communication signaling system caused her son's death. The district court dismissed her suit, reasoning that general maritime law does not recognize a negligence-based cause of action for the death of a nonseaman in state territorial waters. On appeal, Garris argued that the United States Supreme Court's holding in Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc., which established a cause of action for wrongful death under general maritime law based upon unseaworthiness, also recognized a cause of action for wrongful death based on negligence. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of Mrs. Garris's federal claim and remanded for further proceedings, concluding that the principles developed in Moragne warranted recognition of a negligence-based action. The Fourth Circuit subsequently denied Norshipco's suggestion for rehearing en banc. After granting certiorari, the United States Supreme Court ultimately held that a negligent breach of the general maritime duty of care was actionable when it caused death. Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corp. v. Garris, 532 U.S. 811, 820, 2001 AMC 1817, 1824 (2001).
About the Author
John J. Michael.
Citation
77 Tul. L. Rev. 297 (2002)