Merle W. Huber v. United States of America, United States of America, Counterclaimant/appellant v. Monterey Navigation Company, Inc., Counterclaim

On April 10, 1982, the yacht KUHUSH-AN sank in a storm off the coast of Marin County, north of San Francisco Bay. Two of the crew members drowned. The survivor and the decedents’ representatives sued the United States Coast Guard and Monterey Navigation Company, the owner of a ship involved in the incident, for negligence. The United States and Monterey Navigation jointly settled with the plaintiffs and brought crossclaims for contribution against each other. The government appeals the district court’s judgment in favor of Monterey Navigation. We vacate and remand.

I

The yacht KUHUSHAN, a 34-foot sailboat, set sail from San Francisco to Los Angeles on April 9,1982. When the weather turned foul the next day, she started to return to San Francisco. By late afternoon, a heavy storm was blowing. She first contacted the Coast Guard early in the evening and asked for directions into San Francisco Bay and for the location of a large freighter that the crew had seen anchored nearby. The Coast Guard responded that it could not give navigational assistance, but provided the approximate location of the M/V MARITIME PRIDE, the vessel that the KUHUSHAN had spotted. A few minutes later, the…