J. J. Moore & Co. v. Cornwall

144 F. 22, 75 C.C.A. 180, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3819
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 1906
DocketNo. 1,197
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 144 F. 22 (J. J. Moore & Co. v. Cornwall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J. J. Moore & Co. v. Cornwall, 144 F. 22, 75 C.C.A. 180, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3819 (9th Cir. 1906).

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellant contends that in the provision of the charter party that the vessel was to be tight, staunch, strong, and in every way-fitted and provided for the contemplated voyage, there was .an implied warranty that she should be a proper subject for insurance at the ordinary rates for the cargo and the voyage, and that there was a breach of the warranty. The appellant’s president testified that he applied to insurance brokers, and that they reported to him that they were unable to obtain such insurance. Their report is embodied in their letters to the appellant of date January 27, 1902, and January 28, 1902. The first of these letters said:

[25]*254!In reply to your verbal instructions to place marino insurance amounting to S50.000.00 on barley per said vessel, I beg to state that it is impossible to effect this insurance covering particular average.”

The second letter was as follows:

“i regret to state tlmt your order for insurance on barley cannot be executed in this market as companies here will not write .‘i per cent 1’. A. by this vessel, as she is so old, is unclassed and is such a long time on her metal.”

Neither of these brokers testified as a witness in the case, but two officers of insurance companies testified on behalf of the appellant, one of whom said that, if a vessel had been on her metal more than two years, "the conservative underwriter would not underwrite her at all, not for grain.” The other said, “I would not recommend any underwriter to take any risk on any wooden ship that had been on her metal eight years,” and in answer to the question whether in every instance a vessel would be considered not in good condition, if she had been on her metal eight years, he replied, “Oh, no; the condition would have to he ascertained otherwise.” A marine surveyor also testified that he would consider the fitness of a vessel that had been eight or nine years on her metal, to carry grain from San Francisco to Australia, very questionable. An important fact to be considered is that the refusal of the underwriters to insure was not made the ground of the rejection of the charter by the appellant, and was not in the answer to the libel specified as a breach of the warranty of seaworthiness. The answer denied the allegation of the libel that the vessel was tight, staunch, strong, and in every way fitted and provided for making the voyage, but it set up as ground for rescission of the contract only the fact that the owner had failed to furnish the certificate of the charterers’ marine surveyor, as provided in the charter party, and it alleged that on that account the charterer had exercised its option to declare the charter party void. It will be remembered that on January 27th Captain Perriman had said: “I don’t want anything more to do with her. I have quit.” On receipt of this answer, the owner obtained a certificate of inspection and survey by two marine surveyors and sent it to the appellant. The appellant answered by its letter of January 28th, and then for the first time mentioned the subject of insurance. The letter, after referring to the clause which stipulates for a certificate of the charterer’s marine surveyor, said:

“Captain Perrimnu, who is our surveyor, declines to issue the certificate called for by the above provision of the charter party. lie is not satisfied that the vessel is fit to carry a dry and perishable cargo such as grain, which it is intended to put: on board, and in this conclusion he is more than supported by the fact that the insurers decline to insure such cargo on board said vessel, except at very exorbitant rates. We are satisfied, from information given us by one of the surveyors whose certificate you have inclosed to us, that they misapprehended the facts of the case when they made the certificate which you inclosed.”

The letter proceeded to say that the right to rescind the charter party would be exercised, “unless we can come to some reasonable adjustment of our difficulties.”

The appellant was acquainted in a general way with the history of [26]*26the ship and knew her age at the time of entering into the charter party. It had chartered her in the year 1896. It entered into that charter party on a report of its surveyor that at that time she had been on her metal 11 years. J. J. Moore admitted that, if the appellant’s surveyor had made a survey in accordance with the provisions of the present charter party, he might possibly have obtained insurance. It is not shown what representations of fact as to the condition of the vessel were made by the brokers who sought to obtain insurance. It may be assumed that insurance was refused for the reason that the vessel was old and had been eight years on her metal. That a vessel might be eight years on her metal and still be in condition to be an acceptable risk to underwriters is shown by the admission of one of the expert witnesses for the appellant. The refusal of insurance in the present case was based, not upon an inspection of the condition of the vessel, but upon a rule of the insurers.. We find no case in which it has been held that the impossibility of obtaining insurance is sufficient in itself to establish a breach of the warrant)’ of seaworthiness. In The Vincennes, 3 Ware, 171, Fed. Cas. No. 16,945, Judge Ware said: “But the owners did not covenant that the charterer would get insurance. It covenanated only that their vessel was seaworthy and thus insurable.” And elsewhere said: “The whole question of seaworthiness, then, comes to the actual condition of the vessel.” The appellant cites and relies upon The Vesta (D. C.) 6 Fed. 532; Card v. Hine (D. C.) 39 Fed. 818; and Bert, Potter & Hughes v. Hardie (D. C.) 132 Fed. 61. In the case of The Vesta, the vessel was chartered for the transportation of wheat in bulk, under a warranty that she should be tight, staunch, and strong, and in every way fitted 'for the voyage. Neither of tfere parties to the,charter party had seen the vessel. Before' proceeding to load, the charterer attempted to procure insurance on the cargo of wheat, but the risk was declined on the ground that the vessel was old and built of soft wood. On the trial testimony was taken as to the fitness of the vessel for the voyage. The court said:

“The circumstances of the case seem to confirm the opinions of those called by the respondent, who pronounced the vessel unfit to carry wheat in bulk across the Atlantic in the winter months. * * * The charterer would certainly have acted more wisely if he had insisted upon a stipulation in the contract that the vessel should be a good sea risk for the merchandise specified as cargo. But the impressive fact remains that no insurance company could be found, after reasonable search, that was willing to assume the risk of this voyage, under the circumstances stated. To require the charterer to load such a vessel would be a hardship which these parties could not have contemplated when the charter party was signed. It should be noticed that neither of the parties had ever seen this vessel, or knew anything of her condition until she arrived in Boston. * * * TJpon all the evidence, I am of opinion the libelant’s warranty was broken, and the respondent was justified in refusing to load the vessel.”

In that case it is clear that the court did not regard the refusal of underwriters to insure proof in itself of unseaworthiness, but only evidence tending to show that the vessel was unseaworthy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 F. 22, 75 C.C.A. 180, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3819, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/j-j-moore-co-v-cornwall-ca9-1906.