Robert Molitor v. American President Lines, Ltd.

Robert Molitor brought this action against American President Lines to recover damages for personal injuries sustained while employed aboard the S.S. PRESIDENT HOOVER. Molitor, an unlicensed junior engineer, alleged that he was injured while threading pipe in the machine shop located in the engine room of that vessel. Asserting that the proximate cause of such injuries was the negligence attributable to defendant, and to the unseaworthiness of the S.S. PRESIDENT HOOVER, Molitor sought damages in the sum of $150,000.

The cause was tried without a jury and judgment was entered for defendant dismissing the action. Appealing to this court, Molitor questions the trial court holdings that defendant was not negligent, that the vessel was not unsea-worthy, and that no negligence or unseaworthiness was the proximate cause of any injury to the seaman.

About February 25, 1960, a certain line of two-inch pipe was fabricated and installed in the vessel’s engine room. The vessel’s first assistant engineer assigned Molitor to thread certain pieces of pipe for this purpose. Molitor did so, using a pipe vise affixed to a work bench in the vessel’s machine shop. He also used a pipe die of…