[DOWNLOAD] "United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. United States" by Second Circuit Circuit Court Of Appeals * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. United States
- Author : Second Circuit Circuit Court Of Appeals
- Release Date : January 09, 1945
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
Both parties appeal from a decree in the admiralty, awarding damages for personal injuries to one, Walsh, a longshoreman, which he sustained while boarding the respondents ship, "Charles A. Dana," in Savannah, on June 28, 1943. Walsh was a rigger and diver, employed by the Savannah Machine and Foundry Company; the libellant was the insurance company which carried workmens compensation for that company and had paid Walsh his award. The suit was to recover full indemnity for Walshs injuries. The judge found the respondent liable, and awarded $13,000 to the libellant made up as follows: $10,000 for loss of earning power, $1300 for suffering due to the injury; $1700 for hospital expenses. The respondent denies liability for several reasons which we shall take up later; the libellant appeals because the award for suffering was inadequate. The facts as developed upon the trial were as follows. The Savannah Machine and Foundry Company had contracted with the respondent to install fuel tanks upon the ship, which had docked on the evening of July 28. Walsh was ordered to begin the work on board; and when he came to the dock that morning, he found a gondola car on the dock alongside the ship, at a distance of about eighteen inches from her side. A "Jacobs ladder" was over the ships side at the end of this car; and as it seemed an easy way to board the ship, Walsh mounted the gondola, walked along its top until he came to the ladder, and started to climb up. According to this own testimony, he had gone up some distance when the ladder slipped down over the ships rail and threw him upon the stringpiece of the dock, causing severe injuries to his spine. (The more plausible testimony is that the ladder slipped as soon as he put his weight upon it; but it makes no difference which version is correct.) The evidence does not show how the ladder came to be left, hung over the ships side; but it does appear that at some time during the morning its lower steps had been lying upon the dock and had been damaged. The boatswain saw this from the ships deck, and directed a sailor to pull up the ladder; and the sailor did pull it up so that the bottom steps were clear of the deck, though not so high as to be out of reach of anyone standing on the dock who wished to use it. Presumably the end had originally been properly fastened to some cleat or stanchion on the deck; but when the sailor pulled it up, he left the slack lying on the deck unsecured; and in consequence, as soon as Walsh put his weight upon it, the slack paid out over the rail.