Howlett v. Birkdale Shipping Co., S.A.

Background

Albert Howlett, a longshoreman, was injured while unloading bags of cocoa beans from a ship’s tween deck after slipping on clear plastic placed under the cargo. Evidence showed the vessel had supplied the plastic and that a foreign stevedore may have used it instead of customary paper or plywood. Howlett sued the shipowner under the federal law that allows longshoremen to sue vessels for negligence. The district court granted the shipowner summary judgment, the court of appeals affirmed without opinion, and the Supreme Court agreed to resolve a legal split about shipowners’ warning duties.

Reasoning

The Court considered when a shipowner must warn of latent, or hidden, hazards in the cargo stow. It explained that the shipowner’s duty to warn is narrow: it covers only hazards that would not be obvious to a skilled stevedore and that the ship knew or should have known through reasonable care. The Court relied on prior law that expects the stevedore to control and carry out cargo operations and rejected a rule requiring vessel crews to supervise loading or routinely inspect completed stows. The Court tied this narrower duty to the policy that stevedores generally bear primary responsibility for safe cargo handling.

Real world impact

The decision makes clear that shipowners typically need not inspect or oversee stevedores’ loading work and that stevedores remain the first line of responsibility for stow safety. The Court vacated the earlier judgment and remanded so lower courts can decide if crew members actually observed the plastic and whether the hazard was obvious to a competent stevedore. Because the Court remanded rather than deciding the facts, the final outcome for Howlett depends on further proceedings.