California Stevedore & Ballast Co., a Corporation, and Yerba Buena Corporation, a Corporation v. Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corporation, a Corporation

This action is for a tort occurring upon the navigable waters of the United States. Thus the Admiralty jurisdiction of the United States courts is invoked. 28 U.S.C. § 1333 . A final decree having been rendered below, this court has jurisdiction over the appeal. 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

On December 3, 1956, Frank Sannella, an employee of appellant Yerba Buena Corporation, was injured while on board the S.S. Fairland docked at Stockton, California. Sannella’s employer was, at the time, stevedoring the vessel. Within a year after the injury, Sannella filed suit in the United States District Court, Northern District of California, against Waterman Steamship Company and several Does. Waterman Steamship Company filed an answer denying ownership of the vessel. The action against the Does was later dismissed. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, compensation underwriters for the stevedore, Yerba Buena Corporation, filed a motion to intervene in order to recoup compensation and medical expenses paid in behalf of Sannella out of any judgment in favor of Sannella. This motion to intervene was granted.

On or about January 30, 1959, Sannella’s attorneys learned that the S.S. Fairland’s owner was…