Opinion
No. 174.
March 7, 1932.
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of New York.
In Admiralty. Libels by the Fuel Transportation Company, Inc., as owner of the Barge No. 50, and the Rubel Coal Ice Corporation, as owner of the cargo thereon, against the barge President, her tackle, etc., claimed by Joseph L. Greason and another, and Greason, Son Dalzell, Inc., in which the steam tug Buffalo, her engines, etc., claimed by the Erie Railroad Company, were impleaded, and by Greason, Son Dalzell, Inc., as owners of the cargo on the Barge President against the tug Buffalo and her owner, in which the barge President and her owners were impleaded. From a decree against the barge President, her tackle, etc., and respondents Joseph L. Greason and another, they appeal.
Libels against Greason, Son Dalzell, Inc., dismissed, and decree affirmed in all other respects.
The barge No. 50 of the Fuel Transportation Co., Inc., was, on May 6, 1928, lying moored on the north side of Pier 2, at Edgewater, N.J., loaded with a cargo of coal owned by the Rubel Coal Ice Corporation. During that day the tug Buffalo of the Erie Railroad Company brought the barge President, owned by Joseph L. Greason and Edward T. Dalzell, to the pier, and moored her alongside the No. 50. The President had on board a load of coal belonging to Greason, Son Dalzell, Inc. About 6 o'clock the next morning, May 7, 1929, the bargee on the President, having discovered that his boat was sinking, made that fact known to the bargee on the No. 50, who cut the lines between the two boats. Soon afterwards the President sank. In sinking, it struck the No. 50 and so injured the barge that it also sank that night. As a result of these occurrences, suits were brought by the owner of the No. 50 and the owner of her cargo against the President and Greason, Son Dalzell, who were alleged to be her owners. The tug Buffalo and her owner were impleaded in each suit under the 56th Admiralty Rule (28 US CA § 723). The owners of the cargo on the President also sued the tug Buffalo and her owner. In that suit the President and her owners were impleaded. Greason, Son Dalzell did not own the President. Her owners and claimants were Joseph L. Greason and Edward T. Dalzell. The three cases were consolidated and heard together. The President and her owners were held at fault for all the damage and appealed. No disposition was made of the libels against Greason, Son Dalzell as alleged owners of the President.
No evidence was offered to support the claim that the Buffalo gave the President an improper berth or to show any fault whatever on the part of the tug. The cause of the sinking of the President was wholly unexplained except for such inferences as might be drawn from the fact that ten days later, after she was raised and put into dry dock, one plank, the second from the bottom on her port side at her bow, was found to be started. No one knows how or when that was done.
Burlingham, Veeder, Fearey, Clark Hupper, of New York City (Chauncey I. Clark and Adrian J. O'Kane, both of New York City, of counsel), for appellants owners of the barge President.
Wm. F. Purdy, of New York City (John E. Purdy, of New York City, of counsel), for libelant-appellee Greason, Son Dalzell, Inc.
Park, Lynch Hagen, of New York City (Anthony V. Lynch, Jr., of New York City, of counsel), for claimant-respondent-appellee.
Alexander, Ash Jones, of New York City (Edward Ash and Lawson R. Jones, both of New York City, of counsel), for libelant-appellee Fuel Transportation Co., Inc., and another.
Single Single, of New York City (Thomas Hazelhurst Middleton, of New York City, of counsel), for Rubel Coal Ice Corporation, as owner of the cargo of coal laden on the barge Transportation No. 50.
Before L. HAND, SWAN, and CHASE, Circuit Judge.
The fact that the President sank at her berth raised a presumption of unseaworthiness which she had to rebut to escape liability for damage to her own cargo. The Jungshoved (C.C.A.) 290 F. 733; The Harper No. 145 (C.C.A.) 42 F.2d 161. Her failure to rebut that presumption fixed her liability for the damage to that.
The damage to the No. 50 and her cargo was caused by the collision when the President struck her in sinking. Both barges were without motive power. Certainly the President owed the No. 50 no direct obligation to be seaworthy, but only the duty to be free from negligence resulting in damage. While the seaworthiness of the President, or the lack of it, may not be wholly ignored, it is important only as it bears upon the negligence, if any, which caused her to collide with the No. 50.
It must appear that the President negligently collided with the No. 50 and so caused the damage to that boat and her cargo to hold the President for such damage (The Clara, 102 U.S. 200, 26 L. Ed. 145), and there is no direct proof to show what caused the sinking which brought the President into contact with the No. 50. Yet to escape liability for this collision damage it was necessary for the President to rebut the presumption of negligence arising from collision with a moored vessel. The burden upon a drifting vessel that collided with another to prove that the collision was not attributable to her fault was established in The Louisiana, 3 Wall. 164, 18 L. Ed. 85. It has since been recognized in numerous cases that a vessel which drifts into collision will be presumed to be at fault until the contrary is made to appear. Pennsylvania R. Co. v. James McWilliams Towing Line (C.C.A.) 277 F. 798; The D., L. W. No. 442 (C.C.A.) 30 F.2d 250; The Bertha F. Walker (C.C.A.) 220 F. 667; Petition of Diamond Coal Coke Co. (D.C.) 297 F. 242, affirmed (C.C.A.) 297 F. 246; Eastern Dredging Co. v. Winnisimmet Co. et al. (C.C.A.) 162 F. 860; The Forde (C.C.A.) 262 F. 127. The movement of the President in colliding with the No. 50 was essentially like the uncontrolled conduct of a drifting vessel in so far as it affected the No. 50. The important feature is that the President was out of control, and it is incumbent upon those charged with the duty of keeping her under control to show that she did not come into damaging contact with the No. 50 through their negligence.
While the unrebutted presumption of unseaworthiness which made the President liable to her own cargo did not carry over to the No. 50, the presumption of negligence which arose from her collision with a moored vessel when out of control placed the burden of proceeding to rebut that presumption upon the boat that did the damage. Having failed to make such proof, she was cast.
The libels in personam against Greason, Son Dalzell, Inc., are dismissed, with costs. In all other respects the decree is affirmed.