Carl H. Temblador v. Hamburg-American Lines, a Corporation

This is an appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, Central Division. Judgment was entered on the verdict and plaintiff appeals. Jurisdiction of the district court was based on diversity of citizenship, 28 U.S.C. § 1332 . This court has jurisdiction of the appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

Appellant was employed by Crescent Wharf and Warehouse Company (hereinafter “Crescent”). Crescent was employed by the appellee to load its ship, the SS Vogtland. In loading the No. 5 hold of the vessel, the first cargo to go in was some bags of celite. Sacks of black sand were to be piled on top, but the bags of celite did not provide stable footing for the workers, which made it necessary to lay some kind of flooring. The dunnage (scrap lumber) used to make this flooring was of poor quality and not uniform in size. The boards were spread in a single layer directly over the sacks of celite.

Appellant and another member of his work gang were assigned the job of throwing the sacks of black sand into stacking position from the pallets (used to sling the black sand into the hold from the dock). The sacks weighed between 50 and 150 pounds each. While…