Huey Deville v. Shell Oil Company, a Corporation

This is an appeal from a final decision of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 , diversity of citizenship. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

On. April 24, 1964, defendant-appellee Shell Oil Co. (herein referred to as “Shell”) entered into a contract with the Kaiser Steel Corporation (herein referred to as “Kaiser”) under which Kaiser was to construct an offshore drilling platform for Shell to be used in Cook Inlet near Kenai, Alaska. The work was to be performed by Kaiser employees, but inspectors from Shell made frequent inspections to be sure that the work met the specifications of the contract.

Plaintiff-appellant Huey DeVille was a welder employed by Kaiser to fabricate large metal tanks to be placed on the offshore drilling platform. Late on November 13, 1964, appellant was working inside the last of the ten tanks when Shell inspector John J. Smith inspected the tank and determined that some metal braces supporting the walls of the tank would have to be removed, and then re-welded. The views of the parties…