Pan American World Airways, Inc., a Corporation v. California Stevedore and Ballast Company, a Corporation

The ultimate issue in this case is whether the bill of lading concerned here offered the shipper a fair opportunity to declare a value higher than the $500 per package limitation of liability stipulated in the bill of lading, thus complying with the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), 46 U.S.C. § 1300, et seq. The district court found and concluded that the provisions of the Barber Line bill of lading purporting to limit the liability of Barber, as carrier, were invalid since Pan American World Airways, Inc. (Pan Am), as shipper, was not given such fair opportunity and, thereby, the choice of obtaining a higher carrier liability by paying an increased freight. The district court awarded plaintiff judgment for the full amount sought. We affirm.

The facts are not in dispute. In 1973, Pan Am purchased an aircraft scissors lift, a large machine used in the loading and unloading of cargo from airplanes. Pan Am or its freight forwarding agent, Novo International Corporation, then arranged for the shipment of the scissors lift by water from Alameda, California, to Balboa, Canal Zone, aboard the vessel TUGELA, The other principal of these arrangements was the owner of the TUGELA, the…