United States v. Benjamin Harrison and Jones Stevedoring Company

Benjamin Harrison, a longshoreman employed by Jones Stevedoring Company, filed libel against the United States, wherein it was alleged that the government was the owner of S.S. Private John R. Towle and that Harrison slipped, while unloading the vessel, on an accumulation of oil because of the negligence of the government agents. It was alleged also that the vessel was, by the accumulation, unseaworthy. The court permitted the Stevedoring Company to be impleaded by the government based upon allegations that, pursuant to the terms of the stevedoring agreement, the Company had agreed to hold the government harmless against injuries caused by the Company. This third party complaint also alleged that the negligence of the Company caused the injuries of Harrison.

Harrison was one of a gang assigned to unload jeeps stowed on the shelter deck of Hatch No. 1. This deck was practically covered with oil, apparently from crankcases of the jeeps. Harrison noticed this and asked his gang foreman to have the condition remedied. There was substantial evidence that the gang boss and the walking boss appealed to officers who were apparently in charge of the unloading and an officer who was…

I dissent.

The contract between the United States and appellee Stevedoring Company expressly provided (in Clause 12 thereof) that the Company undertook to indemnify the government where injuries were caused either in whole or in part by the Company’s fault. The only exceptions to indemnification were if the accident was caused by the unseaworthiness of the vessel, and the Stevedoring Company either could not have discovered the unseaworthiness, or could not have prevented the accident; or if the accident was caused solely by the ship; or if it resulted from proper compliance by the Stevedoring Company with “specific directions” of the government’s contracting officer. The clause, so far as here material, is set out on the margin.

This case falls squarely within the indemnity provision, and none of the exceptions provided for therein are applicable. It is plain that the accident was in part caused by the Stevedoring Company’s negligence. Its authoritative representatives on board the vessel, namely, its walking-boss, Eckstein, and its gang-boss, Jensen, were fully alive to the fact that oil covered the shelter-deck, thus rendering the area dangerous to the longshore workers.…

245 F.2d 911 UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Benjamin HARRISON and Jones Stevedoring Company, Appellees. No. 15054. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. April 29, 1957. George Cochran Doub, Asst. Atty. Gen., Paul A. Sweeney, Herman Marcuse, Leavenworth Colby, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., Keith Ferguson, Sp. Asst. to Atty. Gen., Lloyd H. Burke, U.S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., for appellant. John H. Black, Edward R. Kay, Henry W. Schaldach, San Francisco, Cal., for appellees. Before HEALY, LEMMON and FEE, Circuit Judges. JAMES ALGER FEE, Circuit Judge. 1 Benjamin Harrison, a longshoreman employed by Jones Stevedoring Company, filed libel against the United States, wherein it was alleged that the government was the owner of S.S. Private John R. Towle and that Harrison slipped, while unloading the vessel, on an accumulation of oil because of the negligence of the government agents. It was alleged also that the vessel was, by the accumulation, unseaworthy. The court permitted the Stevedoring Company to be impleaded by the government based upon allegations that, pursuant to the terms of the stevedoring agreement, the Company had agreed to hold the…