Great American Trading Co. v. American President Lines, Ltd.

641 F. Supp. 396, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30980
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJuly 30, 1986
DocketC-85-3998 SAW
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 641 F. Supp. 396 (Great American Trading Co. v. American President Lines, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great American Trading Co. v. American President Lines, Ltd., 641 F. Supp. 396, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30980 (N.D. Cal. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION

WEIGEL, District Judge.

This case concerns liability for cargo damage as well as the proper measure of damage. Most of the facts are straightforward and have been agreed upon by the parties.

Great American Trading Company (Gateo), sues American President Lines, Ltd. (APL) for damage to four shipments of brassware shipped from Bombay to San Francisco. The shipments arrived in Oakland between September 26,1984 and October 31, 1984. Gateo claims damage in the amount of approximately $133,000 plus interest. Jurisdiction in this Court is proper under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1333. Throughout this opinion and in Appendix A the Court uses the term “Voyage One” to refer to the voyage comprising Gatco’s first cause of action. “Voyage Two” refers to Gatco’s second claim, and so on.

Gateo, the consignee, ordered a number of brassware items from P & S Export Corp. (P & S), the shipper. Gateo is a wholesaler, and planned to resell the brass- *398 ware to various other parties. P & S manufactured the brassware outside New Delhi and delivered it to R. Sharp & Son, Private Ltd. (Sharp), at Sharp’s Container Freight Station (CFS) in Bombay. Sharp was APL’s agent. APL was to transport the goods from Bombay to San Francisco.

P & S wrapped and packaged each individual piece of brassware in a cardboard box. A quantity of these boxes were then packed together by P & S in larger wax lined cardboard containers, referred to as “master containers.” The master containers were bound, i.e. securely closed and wrapped.

P & S delivered the master containers to Sharp’s CFS in Bombay. The CFS was under Sharp’s control, and APL, as Sharp’s principal, was responsible for the goods once they arrived there. Upon arrival they were loaded into a large storage shed. The shed was a metal structure, 700 feet long, 70 feet wide and seven feet tall. Its floor was six inches off the ground. The shed had 12 entrances, each with an overhang extending four feet outside beyond the doorway. There were no windows. Trucks loading master containers to the shed would back up flush against one of the doorways to offload cargo.

After being placed in the shed, the master containers were inspected by three surveyors; one from J.B. Boda Co. (Boda), hired by APL, one from the stevedoring company, and one from the Bombay Port Trust. Captain Bhangara was in charge of the team of Boda surveyors. He testified that it was his policy and his understanding of Indian law that if the exterior of a master container was in good condition, the container was not to be opened. If it showed evidence of water damage it would be opened and its contents inspected. If the goods were sound, they would be repacked in sound master containers. The exteriors of all master containers at issue in this suit were found to be in good condition and none of them were opened by the surveyors in Bombay.

The master containers were later “stuffed” into supposedly watertight metal shipping containers. The shipping containers, provided by APL, were 20 or 40 feet long, eight feet wide and eight feet tall. They were brought to the shed, where they were placed flush against one of the doors. The master containers were moved to the door and inspected by the same three parties that inspected them when they arrived at the CFS. Again, no damage was noted. Captain Bhangara testified that once the master containers were in the shed, there was no way for them to get wet, short of an extraordinary occurrence such as being doused by water during a fire. There was no evidence of any such occurrence. After inspection, the master containers were stuffed inside the shipping containers. Other, unrelated cargo was also stuffed inside the shipping containers in Voyages One, Three and Four.

For each of the four shipments, a “clean bill of lading” was issued, stating that the goods were in “apparent good order and condition” upon being tendered by the shipper, P & S, to APL.

All of the events described above occurring in India took place during monsoon season.

The cargo in Voyages Three and Four was loaded onto vessels bound for Singapore, where it was transferred onto other vessels bound for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and from there, to still other vessels destined for Oakland. In Voyage One, the goods were loaded onto a vessel bound for Singapore, where the cargo was transferred onto a ship sailing to Hong Kong. From Hong Kong, the goods were placed on a vessel bound for Oakland. The shipping container in Voyage Two was loaded aboard the M/V TACKLER ARABIA, which headed west to the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emerites. From there, the cargo was loaded aboard the M/V PRESIDENT McKINLEY, which made for Hong Kong. It was then loaded aboard the M/ PRESIDENT GRANT, which sailed to Oakland.

When the ships arrived in Oakland, the cargo was outturned and inspected by the consignee, Gateo, and APL. In each case, *399 many or all of the master containers were wet to the touch or water stained. In each shipment, some or all of the brassware sustained water damage and was sold as salvage. No one disputes the reasonableness of the salvage price.

It is agreed by the parties that the water damage was caused by freshwater, not saltwater, thus eliminating the possibility that there was any damage from the sea. Other cargo outturned at Oakland that was stuffed in the same shipping containers as the brassware was apparently undamaged in that there have been no complaints from other shippers or consignees.

There was also a shortage of three master containers in Voyage Four. The uneontroverted evidence establishes APL’s liability for that loss.

DISCUSSION

Both parties agree that liability in this action must be determined under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (Cogsa), 46 U.S.C. § 1300 et seq. Cogsa initially places the burden of proof on the consignee to prove that the goods were delivered to the carrier in good condition, but that they arrived after the voyage in damaged condition. Once this prima facie case is made, the burden shifts to the carrier to show that the damage was caused by one of the exceptions to liability listed in § 1304(2). Daido Lines v. Thomas P. Gonzalez Corp., 299 F.2d 669, 671 (9th Cir.1962). The parties also agree that where a master container is bound and its contents are not inspected by the carrier, a clean bill of lading does not, of itself, establish the consignee’s prima facie case. This is consistent with the case law on point. Caemint Food, Inc. v. Brasileiro, 647 F.2d 347, 352 (2d Cir.1981) (Friendly, J.); Ed Miniat, Inc. v. Baltimore & Ohio Ry. Co., 587 F.2d 1277, 1280 (D.C.Cir.1978);

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Bluebook (online)
641 F. Supp. 396, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30980, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-american-trading-co-v-american-president-lines-ltd-cand-1986.