The Daido Line v. Thomas P. Gonzalez, Corporation

The Thomas P. Gonzalez Corporation sued the Daido Line in admiralty alleging damage to a shipment of garlic. The District Court found: that the garlic was received by the carrier in good order and condition and outturned at destination badly damaged; that the carrier failed to use due care in keeping and ventilating the cargo during the voyage; that these failures proximately caused the damage to the garlic; and that no part of the damage was caused by act or omission of the shipper or inherent vice of the cargo. On an examination of the whole record we conclude that the findings with respect to liability are not clearly erroneous. However, we vacate the judgment and remand for a recomputation of damages.

I

The libel alleged that the Gonzalez Corporation shipped 4,400 sacks of garlic in good order and condition aboard Daido’s vessel, the Korai Maru, then lying at the Port of Los Angeles; and that the cargo was discharged in the Port of Havana badly damaged, impaired in value and slack in weight, in breach of Daido’s duty and to the damage of Gonzalez Corporation. Daido’s answer denied that the garlic was in good order and condition when shipped, and alleged that the cargo was…