Summary Judgment Granted Against Seaman Who Was Not In The Zone Of Danger
JEFFERY OWENS VERSUS GLOBAL SANTA FE DRILLING CO.
CIVIL ACTION NO. 04-702 SECTION "K" (4)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OFLOUISIANA
2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6225
April 8, 2005, Decided
April 8, 2005, Filed
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff, an assistant derrickman, filed a Seaman's Complaint pursuant to 28 U.S.C.S. ยง 1916, seeking damages for neurological problems that he allegedly sustained while working on a rig owned by defendant drilling company. The company filed a motion for summary judgment.
OVERVIEW: The derrickman alleged that he was suffering from panic attacks, depression, and neurological problems due to repeated minor injuries he sustained on the rig, as well as due to witnessing coworkers sustain injuries. In granting the company's motion for summary judgment, the court held that the facts alleged by the derrickman did not state a claim for damages for purely emotional injuries. Under the zone of danger theory, a claimant could cover for purely emotional harm if he was objectively within the zone of danger; he feared for his life at the time of the accident, and his emotional injuries were a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant's alleged negligence. Here, the derrickman did not allege that he feared for his life as a result of his own injuries or the injuries sustained by coworkers. Further, his minor injuries had all healed, and the derrickman had gone to work for eight months before claiming to be suffering from emotional distress. Thus, the emotional injuries were not foreseeable. The court opined that emotional injuries resulting from nothing more than the accumulation of years of common encounters with the hardships of the sea were not foreseeable.
OUTCOME: The court granted the company's motion for summary judgment.
