States Steamship Company, a Corporation v. Permanente Steamship Corporation, a Corporation

This appeal is from an interlocutory decree in admiralty, 28 U.S.C. § 1292 , adjudging appellant’s SS Colorado the sole fault of a collision between the Colorado and appellee’s SS Permanente Silverbow.

The evidence is analyzed and the facts set forth in clear detail in the opinion written by the learned district judge. Permanente S. S. Corp. v. The Colorado, D.C.N.D.Cal.1955, 129 F.Supp. 65 .

It will suffice here to repeat appellee’s version of the incident:

Appellee thereupon libeled the Colorado alleging collision damages of $475,-000; and appellant in turn libeled the Permanente Silverbow alleging collision damages of $275,000. Cross-libels were filed in each case and, pursuant to stipulation of the parties, the two causes were consolidated and tried together.

The District Court, upon hearing the evidence, accepted appellee’s version of events preceding the collision. The District Court’s findings are in turn accepted in this Court unless clearly erroneous, since “no greater scope of review is exercised by the appellate tribunals in admiralty cases than they exercise under Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” McAllister v. United States, 1954, 348 U.S. 19,…