Sagadahoc S. S. Corp. v. Seaboard Stevedoring Corp.

Libelant in this ease seeks to recover over against respondent the sum of $15,000, plus pertain medical expenses and attorney’s fees which it paid as the result of a decree against its vessel Sagadahoc in the District Court in Oregon on account of injuries received during the unloading of the vessel at Portland by a longshoreman, one Freshley. Respondent is the stevedoring corporation which had charge of the unloading and loading of the vessel at San Francisco, the last port of call prior to Portland. It is charged in the libel that the accident on account of which the ship was held liable occurred through respondent’s negligence in misplacing a certain hatch cover in San Francisco.

The liability of respondent in the event that such negligence is proved is not contested.

Libelant contends that the agents of respondent, in covering No. 2 hatch, took a hatch board which did not belong in that place and was too long, and placed it so that, while its end rested on the flange of the hatch coaming, its other end did not rest on the flange of the king beam, but projected up over the king beam. The board would then be in a position where it could shift forward with any motion of the…