Shaffer C. Tim v. American President Lines, Ltd., a Corporation

Shaffer C. Tim, the appellant, sustained serious personal injuries while employed by American President Lines and acting in the course of his employment as chief electrician aboard the S.S. President Tyler. At the time of the accident cargo at the No. 4 hatch of the ship was being worked by employees of Matson Terminals, Inc., a stevedore company employed by the United States Government to handle the Government’s cargo.

The cargo was being unloaded with a gantry crane. A supervisory employee of Matson Terminals, Inc. complained to Tim that the crane was not operating fast enough. Tim went to the operator’s cab and made the necessary adjustments. While there he thought he noticed that an overhead electrical cable had become disengaged from its reel. He told the operator, a longshoreman-employee of Matson Terminals, to stop the crane in order to permit an inspection. He then proceeded to the steel mesh platform outside the cab where a ladder led from the platform to the top of the crane. Above the ladder was a safety screen designed so that a person could not climb to the top of the crane while the crane was in operation. In order to climb the ladder a person had to slide back the…