Musleh v. Am. S.S. Co.
Musleh v. Am. S.S. Co.
Opinion of the Court
This action involves Plaintiff's claims for damages allegedly resulting from an injury suffered aboard the M/V St. Clair on December 26, 2014, while Plaintiff was in the service of the vessel's owner, Defendant American Steamship Company ("ASC"). On September 8, 2017, this Court granted ASC's motion for summary judgment in a previous action between these same parties, regarding damages allegedly related *512to this same injury. Musleh v. American Steamship Co. , No. 15-cv-13252,
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On December 26, 2014, Plaintiff injured his shoulder and thumb while working for ASC as a seaman aboard the M/V St. Clair. (ECF No. 9-2, Pl.'s Resp. Ex. A, March 24, 2016 Deposition of Ahmed Musleh taken in Musleh I , at 12:22-23, 39:16:-40:3.)
After being declared FFD, Plaintiff attempted to return to work for ASC, but was deemed not qualified to return to work on an ASC vessel because he failed to obtain a Vessel Personnel and Designated Security Duties ("VPDSD") certificate. Musleh I ,
Plaintiff's complaint in Musleh I contained two counts-one for unearned wages and one for maintenance and "contractual *513support" benefits. The complaint in Musleh I did not contain a claim against ASC under the Jones Act for negligence or for unseaworthiness, claims that are set forth in Counts I and II of the Complaint in this action. In fact, at Plaintiff's deposition in Musleh I , counsel for both parties discussed the fact that Plaintiff was not bringing a Jones Act claim for negligence in that action at that time:
Mr. Galea: I guess the first thing is, before we get started, so that we can try to narrow the focus of this deposition, it's my understanding that the lawsuit in this particular case, and the claim being made, is not so much to seek the damages arising as a result of the incident of December 26, 2014, but more what transpired as a result of the requirement, or whatever, for the vessel personnel designated securities duties endorsement, the VPDSD, and not to seek recovery for damages for the December 26, 2014, incident?
Mr. Fishback: Yes. On behalf of Mr. Musleh, that is correct.
And we had a brief conversation this morning, and I thought just to add to the understanding, I think, obviously, the Complaint speaks for itself. There is no claim asserted for a Jones Act or seaworthiness at this time.
And certainly, if that were to become relevant at a later time, we'd agree to present Mr. Musleh, and you can question him, whatever.
(Pl.'s Dep. 5:8-6:9.) Plaintiff never deemed any potential negligence or seaworthiness claims relevant as Musleh I moved forward and proceeded to closure on the unearned wages and maintenance claims. On September 8, 2017, the Court denied Plaintiff's claims for unearned wages and maintenance benefits,
Defendant now moves to dismiss this action, arguing that Counts I and II, for negligence and seaworthiness respectively, arise out of the same December 26, 2014 injury that formed the basis for the claims in the prior case and therefore could and should have been brought in the prior litigation. Defendant also argues that the issues presented in Count III of the Complaint in this case, for maintenance and cure, were expressly decided in that prior proceeding.
Plaintiff responds that Musleh I was an action filed for "the limited purpose of litigating [Plaintiff's] claim for unearned wages" and that ASC acknowledged this limited purpose and therefore is now estopped from asserting the defense of res judicata. Plaintiff also asserts that the claim for cure in this case is different from the claim asserted in the previous action because his condition resulting from the December 26, 2014 injury has worsened.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
When reviewing a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) a court must " 'construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept its allegations as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.' " Handy-Clay v. City of Memphis ,
*514In Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ,
The Supreme Court clarified the concept of "plausibilty" in Ashcroft v. Iqbal ,
In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Court may consider the complaint as well as (1) documents that are referenced in the plaintiff's complaint and that are central to plaintiff's claims, (2) matters of which a court may take judicial notice (3) documents that are a matter of public record, and (4) letters that constitute decisions of a governmental agency. Thomas v. Noder-Love ,
III. ANALYSIS
A. Federal Law of Res Judicata
"The preclusive effect of a federal-court judgment is determined by federal common law."
*515Taylor v. Sturgell ,
"The preclusive effect of a judgment is defined by claim preclusion and issue preclusion, which are collectively referred to as 'res judicata.' " Sturgell ,
The rules of res judicata actually comprise two doctrines concerning the preclusive effect of a prior adjudication, claim preclusion and issue preclusion. The general rule of claim preclusion, or true res judicata, is that a valid and final judgment on a claim precludes a second action on that claim or any part of it. Claim preclusion applies not only to bar the parties from relitigating issues that were actually litigated but also to bar them from relitigating issues that could have been raised in an earlier action.
J.Z.G. Resources,
" '[R]es judicata has four elements: (1) a final decision on the merits by a court of competent jurisdiction; (2) a subsequent action between the same parties or their privies; (3) an issue in the subsequent action which was litigated or which should have been litigated in the prior action; and (4) an identity of the causes of action.' " Rawe v. Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co. ,
The parties here do not dispute the first two elements as this Court's summary judgment ruling in Musleh I was a decision on the merits and involved the identical parties. Our focus is on the third and fourth elements of the res judicata test. The third element, whether the claims in this action could or should have been asserted in Musleh I , asks whether the "two causes of action arise from the 'same transaction, or series of transactions,' " and if so then "the plaintiff should have litigated both causes in the first action and may not litigate the second issue later." Holder v. City of Cleveland ,
*516The fourth element requires " 'an identity of the facts creating the right of action and of the evidence necessary to sustain each action.' " Holder ,
Plaintiff's challenge relates principally to the fourth element, identity of claims, which Plaintiff interprets to mean that if the subsequent suit requires the submission of different evidence to sustain the claim, then res judicata does not apply to the subsequent suit. But, as discussed further infra , it is well established that the rule of res judicata "applies to extinguish a claim by the plaintiff against the defendant even though the plaintiff is prepared in the second action ... [t]o present evidence or grounds or theories of the case not presented in the first action...." Restatement (Second) Judgments § 25 (introductory comment). "[R]es judicata extinguishes all claims arising out of the same transaction or series of transactions. As such, a plaintiff is pressured to present all material relevant to the claim in one action, including any and all theories even where those theories are based on different substantive grounds." Wilkins v. Jakeway ,
B. The Elements of Plaintiff's Claims Here and in Musleh I
Plaintiff filed a two-count complaint in Musleh I -Count I for unearned wages and Count II for maintenance and support benefits. The parties' summary judgment arguments focused on the count for unearned wages, which was a dispute regarding whether Plaintiff had the necessary certification to return to work after he was declared FFD following his injury. Plaintiff alleged that ASC wrongfully refused to allow Plaintiff return to work after he was declared FFD following his December 26, 2014 injury and therefore Plaintiff sought unearned wages from the date that Plaintiff was declared FFD (June 16, 2015) to the present. The Court disagreed and found that as a matter of law Plaintiff's entitlement to unearned wages ceased when he finished the voyage he was on for ASC at the time of the injury. Coincidentally, that voyage ended on December 26, 2014, the date that Plaintiff suffered the injury. The fact of Plaintiff's injury while in the service of the ship, a critical element of both of his claims in Musleh I , was necessarily decided in Musleh I and the parties did exchange discovery regarding the nature of Plaintiff's injury and his medical expenses up until the date on which he was declared FFD. Several pages of Plaintiff's deposition in Musleh I were devoted to a discussion of the treatment, medication, and physical therapy that Plaintiff had received for the injury he suffered on December 26, 2014, and several medical professionals were listed by Plaintiff on his witness list in Musleh I.
*517(Pl.'s Resp. Ex. A, Pl.'s 3/24/16 Dep. 38:13-46:8, 72:10-74:22.) This Court held that ASC had paid Plaintiff all maintenance and cure benefits that were due him up through the date on which he was declared FFD. Musleh I ,
Plaintiff has now filed a three Count Complaint based upon the same December 26, 2014 injury-Count I under the Jones Act for negligence, Count II under general maritime law for unseaworthiness and Count III, also under general maritime law, for maintenance and cure. The elements of these claims will be discussed in turn, starting with the last Count first.
"[M]aintenance and cure is an independent claim that is not contingent upon being able to recover for negligence under the Jones Act or a violation of the duty to provide a seaworthy vessel." West v. Midland Enterprises, Inc. ,
"There are generally three separate items of recovery in an action for maintenance and cure." Bartholomew v. Universe Tankships, Inc. ,
Rather than relying upon the protection of workers' compensation statutes, seamen who suffer illness or injury on the job look to a unique package of remedies. Due to historical tradition and the realization that seaman are required to endure special perils and hardships, federal common law of the sea accords seaman special relief not available to other workers, including maintenance, cure, and unearned wages. Maintenance refers to a shipowner's obligation to provide a mariner with food and lodging if he becomes injured or falls ill while in service of the ship, while cure alludes to the duty to provide necessary medical care and attention.
Midland Enterprises ,
In addition to damages available for maintenance and cure under general maritime law, " '[t]he Jones Act permits any seaman who suffers personal injuries in the course of his employment or the personal representative of a deceased seaman to sue his employer at law for damages in a federal district court, without invoking admiralty jurisdiction.' " Petersen v. Chesapeake and Ohio Ry. Co. ,
"An unseaworthiness claim under maritime common law is separate from a Jones Act negligence claim." Vandekreeke v. USS Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. ,
C. Res Judicata Bars Plaintiff's Claims in this Action
In Musleh I , this court decided that Plaintiff was not entitled to unearned wages as a result of his December 26, 2014 injury and decided that Plaintiff had received all of the maintenance and cure benefits to which he was entitled as a result of that injury. In resolving these claims, the Court necessarily found that Plaintiff was a seaman, and that he was injured in the course and scope of his employment for ASC on December 26, 2014. Plaintiff argues in opposition to Defendant's motion, and it is evident, that the essential elements of his Jones Act claim, notably whether ASC was negligent and whether this negligence was the proximate cause of Plaintiff's injury, as well as essential elements of his unseaworthiness claim, notably whether the M/V St. Clair was reasonably fit for its intended use and, if not, then whether such unseaworthiness was the substantial and direct or proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries, were not the subject of discovery or argument in Musleh I . Plaintiff suggests that because this additional evidence will be essential here and was not essential to resolution of the claims presented in Musleh I , res judicata does not bar this action. But the res judicata analysis is more exacting than this.
As discussed above, the parties do not dispute the first and second elements *519of the res judicata analysis- Musleh I resulted in a final judgment on the merits and the parties are identical. And Plaintiff puts up minimal resistance with regard to the third factor-Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims are frequently litigated together with claims for unearned wages and maintenance and cure. "It has long been settled that a seaman is not required to elect between a claim for maintenance and cure and a claim for negligence under the Jones Act." Bartholomew ,
The real dispute here focuses on the fourth element-whether there is "an identity of the causes of action" in Musleh I and here. The parties agree that this element requires a finding of " 'an identity of the facts creating the right of action and of the evidence necessary to sustain each action.' " Holder ,
Holder first argues that her race and gender pay discrimination suits arise from different facts and therefore do not possess "an identity of the causes of action" required for res judicata to apply. However, both Holder I and II actually arise from the same facts (disparate pay); it is the legal theory of her claims that differ. The district court correctly noted that the "only discernable difference between the facts of [both cases] is that in her [current] Complaint she specifically seeks to compare her pay to two particular white female employees and her claims are all race based. [Both cases] involve the same employment, same supervisor and the same circumstances.... Even though Holder was aware of a possible racial disparity when filing Holder I , she chose only to pursue her gender-based discrimination theories in her first suit. She cannot now subvert the principles of res judicata by filing yet another lawsuit on the same facts, basing that suit solely on claims of racial discrimination.
Likewise, in Venture Global Engineering, LLC v. Satyam Computer Servs. Ltd. , No. 10-cv-15142,
The requirement that there be an "identity of the causes of action" "is satisfied if 'the claims arose out of the same transaction or series of transactions, or whether the claims arose out of the same core of operative facts.' " Browning v. Levy ,283 F.3d 761 , 774-75 (6th Cir. 2002) (quoting In re Micro-Time Mgmt. Sys., Inc. ,983 F.2d 1067 ,1993 WL 7524 , at *5 (6th Cir. Jan. 12, 1993) (table decision) ). Plaintiffs contend that an "identity of the causes of action" does not exist because "the only issues presented to the arbitrator in the prior action were contract-related," [ ] and "[n]owhere does the arbitrator discuss allegations of fraud or of misrepresentations relating to Satyam's business model or its financial stability," [ ]. The mere fact that the parties asserted contract-based claims in the arbitration proceeding, however, does not necessarily establish that an "identity of the causes of action" does not exist. The Sixth Circuit has observed that "[claim preclusion] extinguishes all claims arising out of the same transaction o[r] series of transactions. As such, a plaintiff is pressured to present all material relevant to the claim *521in one action, including any and all theories of the case even where those theories are based on different substantive grounds." Wilkins v. Jakeway ,183 F.3d 528 , 535 (6th Cir. 1999) (citing Restatement (Second) of Judgments §§ 24, 25 cmt. a, d) (emphasis added).
Here all of Plaintiff's claims in both Musleh I and this action arise out of the same December 26, 2014 accident and injury and Plaintiff concedes that the claims asserted here could have been, and typically would have been, asserted in Musleh I . Indeed, Plaintiff's counsel announced during Plaintiff's deposition in Musleh I that he reserved the right to assert the claims asserted here in that prior action, presumably by way of amendment to the pleadings, "if they became relevant," which apparently they did not-until Plaintiff did not prevail on his "novel" unearned wages claim. But Plaintiff cannot split his claims in this fashion-he cannot control the scope of the res judicata bar by electing to limit his claims, and accordingly limit discovery and argument, to a discrete theory of recovery, then wait to see how that theory is received, and only after losing on that theory, file a second lawsuit arising out the very same accident and injury, alleging different theories of recovery that admittedly could have been asserted in the first proceeding. "The Sixth Circuit has observed that "[claim preclusion] extinguishes all claims arising out of the same transaction o[r] series of transactions. As such, a plaintiff is pressured to present all material relevant to the claim in one action, including any and all theories of the case even where those theories are based on different substantive grounds." " Venture Global ,
IV. CONCLUSION
"The purpose of res judicata is to promote the finality of judgments and thereby increase certainty, discourage multiple litigation, and conserve judicial resources." Westwood Chemical ,
Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 9) and DISMISSES this action WITH PREJUDICE.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
In ruling on a motion to dismiss, the Court may consider the complaint as well as (1) documents that are referenced in the plaintiff's complaint and that are central to plaintiff's claims, (2) matters of which a court may take judicial notice, (3) documents that are a matter of public record, and (4) letters that constitute decisions of a governmental agency. Thomas v. Noder-Love ,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Musid MUSLEH v. AMERICAN STEAMSHIP COMPANY
- Cited By
- 8 cases
- Status
- Published