Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. v. Gary

161 F. Supp. 570, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4264
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedMarch 31, 1958
DocketCiv. 12580
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 161 F. Supp. 570 (Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. v. Gary) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co. v. Gary, 161 F. Supp. 570, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4264 (E.D. Mich. 1958).

Opinion

O’SULLIVAN, District Judge.

On August 31,1952, the Steamer E. H. Gary, owned by respondent, collided with the Steamer Western States, owned by the libelant, which was then tied up at libelant’s dock at the foot of Third Street in the City of Detroit, Michigan. The Western States was pushed against another boat owned by libelant, the City of Detroit III which wás between the Western States and the dock, and the latter boat was pushed against the dock owned by libelant, resulting in damage to both boats and the dock. Respondent admits liability, and the question for decision is the amount of libelant’s damages.

A cross-libel was filed by the respondent, and a third boat, the Steamer Superior, and its owner were impleaded, respondent charging libelant and said third boat with negligence. Such claims, however, were abandoned.

Surveys of the damage to the boats and dock were made by various experts. There was a wide variance between the estimates of these experts as to the reasonable cost of making necessary repairs. In addition to its assertion that the libel-ant’s estimates as to cost of repairs were excessive, respondent claims that the cost of repairs to the boats and dock are, under the circumstances of this case, not the proper measure of damages. Respondent’s claim in this regard is bottomed upon the contention that libelant’s [572]*572two boats were obsolete, had been withdrawn from use in the lake traffic as passenger boats, were not worth being, repaired, and that the only damages that could be awarded to the libelant would be the difference in the market value of these boats immediately before and after the casualty. Respondent further contends that inasmuch as the libel-ant’s dock had been condemned by the City of Detroit prior to the casualty, and subsequent thereto was taken over by the city under the judgment of condemnation, for the same price as had been awarded to the libelant in the condemnation proceedings prior to the casualty, there should be no allowance for damages to the dock.

Before attempting to resolve the differences between the various experts as to the cost of repairing the boats and dock, it is necessary for the Court to decide whether the cost of repairs was, under the circumstances of this case, the appropriate measure of damages. The resolution of this question is not without difficulty. No cases have been cited which have sufficiently analogous factual backgrounds as to be authoritative on the issue that this Court must decide.

Libelant, Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company, had for many years operated a fleet of passenger boats on the Great Lakes. Its operation of its passenger boats ended with the close of navigation in the year 1950. The boats Western States and City of Detroit III, were thereupon tied up at libelant’s dock and remained there up to the time of the casualty involved in this case. Libelant’s Board of Directors, following the season of 1950, during which time the libelant had sustained losses from the operation of its boats, decided to suspend their operation. The following resolution was adopted on March 8, 1951:

“Resolved, that this Board of Directors approves and adopts the recommendation of the President that the company suspend all transportation operations, the announcement of which is to be made at such time as in the discretion of the President shall be deemed most advisable.”

Prior to the casualty in question, the City of Detroit had commenced condemnation proceedings to acquire libelant’s dock at the foot of Third Street. Prior to the casualty there was a jury’s verdict finding necessity and awarding damages in the amount of $450,000. Libelant appealed that case to the Supreme Court of Michigan, contesting the jury’s verdict of necessity and the amount of the award. The ease was pending on appeal at the time of the casualty, and the condemnation judgment was thereafter affirmed by the Supreme Court of Michigan on January 5, 1953. City of Detroit v. Detroit Cleveland Navigation Co., 335 Mich. 528, 56 N.W.2d 375.

The two boats in question had steel hulls and wooden superstructure. They were what is known as “side-wheelers.” The Western States was built in 1902 and the City of Detroit III in 1907. Testimony established that the passenger business on the Great Lakes had been declining prior to the time of the casualty, and continued thereafter. A history of this decline was given by Reverend Edward J. Dowling of the faculty of the University of Detroit. He testified that in 1915 there were sixteen companies operating Great Lakes passenger boats, which at one time consisted of a fleet of fifty-five boats. At the time of the casualty, this fleet had been reduced to some four boats owned by the libelant company; two boats, the North America and South America, operated by the Georgian Bay Line; the Steamer Aqua-rama, running between Detroit and Cleveland, and the Milwaukee Clipper, running between Ludington, Michigan, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His testimony was limited to the American boats plying the Great Lakes.

Libelant did not repair the boats in question, nor its dock, and these boats with others of libelant’s fleet were ultimately sold. The Western States was first offered for sale in November, 1954, [573]*573and in December of that year was sold on a contract for $50,000. This sale, however, was never completed and the Western States was finally sold in July, 1956, for $25,000. The City of Detroit III was offered for-sale and sold on June 21, 1956, with two other boats owned by libelant company, for a total price of $90,000.

Respondent’s witness, Robert D. Smith, describing himself as a ship broker, testified that late in 1951 he talked with one Kolowich, then President of libelant company. This witness was interested in selling libelant’s boats as a broker, and apparently Kolowich indicated that he would give consideration to such a sale. Smith testified as to his' efforts to find purchasers for the boats for possible conversion into oil barges for ocean traffic. He found no purchasers. One of the obstacles to such sale, he asserted, was the difficulty of moving the boats from the Great Lakes to the seaboard. This witness further testified that at and around the time of the casualty he knew of no one who would be interested in buying these boats for use in the Great Lakes passenger traffic.

Following the commission of respondent’s conceded tort, other events, including the affirmance of the condemnation judgment, occurred rather quickly, which made such changes in the affairs and circumstances of libelant’s company as to lead ultimately to its decision to sell its boats and to cease all operation of passenger boats on the Great Lakes. The last expression (prior to the casualty in question) of future plans of libelant company is contained in its President’s report of March 3, 1952, wherein he said:

“As you know, the company did not operate its vessels during the year 1951. Any decision for resumption of vessel operation will have to take into consideration the fact that the City of Detroit has now condemned all of the company’s river front property at Detroit, leaving the company no Detroit terminal out of which to carry on passenger and freight business. This problem is one of several perplex-' ing situations which will have to be solved before operation can be resumed."

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Bluebook (online)
161 F. Supp. 570, 1958 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4264, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/detroit-cleveland-navigation-co-v-gary-mied-1958.