Lloyd v. American Export Lines, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
580 F.2d 1179 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 969 (1978)
Frank Lloyd (plaintiff) and Roland Alvarez (third-party plaintiff/defendant), fellow crew members on the SS Export Commerce (defendant), fought while in port in Yokohama; Lloyd sued Export, Export impleaded Alvarez, and Alvarez counterclaimed against Export for negligence and unseaworthiness, alleging Export failed to protect him from Lloyd's known hostility. After Lloyd's own claim was dismissed for failure to prosecute, the case proceeded to trial on Alvarez's counterclaim, where Lloyd refused to testify; Export instead sought to introduce testimony Lloyd had given at a Coast Guard hearing investigating whether Lloyd's merchant mariner license should be suspended over the same fight, which examined Lloyd's conduct aboard the ship and his history with Alvarez. The jury found Export negligent and awarded Alvarez $95,000, and Export appealed the exclusion of Lloyd's Coast Guard testimony.
Whether Federal Rule of Evidence 804(b)(1) permits admitting prior testimony of an unavailable witness when a predecessor in interest to the party against whom the evidence is offered had an opportunity and similar motive to examine that witness.