Glen Titus v. The Santorini and Sigalas and Kulukundis, Its

On February 5, 1955, Titus, a longshoreman, was injured on the deck of the S. S. Santorini as it lay at the dock in Coos Bay, Oregon, taking on a load of lumber. At the moment he was acting as hatch tender. As the load came, up in the slings attached to the hook, both a preventer wire and a rope guy broke. Each was fastened to the upper end of the starboard boom and to the vessel’s rail to give stability to the boom. As a result the winch tender naturally lost most of his control over the boom and the load in the slings. Titus got away from the load, but in doing so he slipped and suffered a bad break at his right ankle. He was an employee of the Independent Stevedoring Company which was connected with the ship and its owners only by its contract of employment. Passing over his compensation rights existing by virtue of his employment, he brought this suit in admiralty alleging negligence and unseaworthiness.

At the conclusion of the trial, the trial judge indicated his intention to rule in favor of Titus as libellant. After the case was briefed by counsel the court, reversed itself and entered findings of fact for the defendant.

It is now the law that a longshoreman does not…