Lekas & Drivas, Inc. v. Basil Goulandris

306 F.2d 426, 1962 U.S. App. LEXIS 4695
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 25, 1962
Docket27239_1
StatusPublished

This text of 306 F.2d 426 (Lekas & Drivas, Inc. v. Basil Goulandris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lekas & Drivas, Inc. v. Basil Goulandris, 306 F.2d 426, 1962 U.S. App. LEXIS 4695 (2d Cir. 1962).

Opinion

306 F.2d 426

LEKAS & DRIVAS, INC., Pompeian Olive Oil Corporation, and Victor Cory, doing business as Victor Cory Company, Libelants-Appellees,
v.
Basil GOULANDRIS, Nicholas Goulandris and Leonidas Goulandris, doing business as "Goulandris Brothers," Respondents-Appellants.

No. 346.

Docket 27239.

United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit.

Argued May 1, 1962.

Decided June 25, 1962.

James E. Freehill (Hill, Betts, Yamaoka, Freehill & Longcope), New York City, for respondents-appellants.

John W. R. Zisgen, New York City (Bigham, Englar, Jones & Houston), New York City, for libelants-appellees.

Before WATERMAN, MOORE and FRIENDLY, Circuit Judges.

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge.

Mussolini's unprovoked attack on Greece on October 28, 1940, touched off a modern Odyssey whose legal consequences have occupied the courts in this circuit for more than twenty years; hopefully, this decision may end the epic.

Having taken on cargo at Izmir, Cavalla and Salonica, principally tobacco, the SS. Ioannis P. Goulandris docked at Piraeus on October 26, 1940, before her intended voyage to the United States via Gibraltar, a crossing ordinarily taking 25 to 28 days. Two days later, Italy attacked. The Ioannis was first requisitioned by the Greek Government for a short military mission. Transit of the Mediterranean having become impracticable, she was then directed by her government to proceed to the United States via Suez and the Cape of Good Hope. She sailed from Piraeus on November 10, 1940; she arrived in the United States in May, 1941, her cargo badly damaged during the long, hot voyage.

We have previously affirmed Chief Judge Ryan's dismissal, 173 F.Supp. 140, of large claims for damage to the tobacco, 281 F.2d 179 (2 Cir. 1960). The instant appeals relate to much smaller claims allowed by the judge in the same opinion, 173 F.Supp. at 179-180, for damage to a shipment of 308 cases and 7 barrels of a soft cheese known as "Kefalotyri" by libelant Lekas & Drivas, Inc. as consignor and consignee, and of 500 and 350 drums of olive oil, respectively, consigned to libelants Victor Cory Company and Pompeian Olive Oil Corporation.

The voyage took place under the difficulties expectable in wartime. The Greek Government had ordered the Ioannis to sail in convoy to Port Said and thereafter to follow the instructions of the British Admiralty; because these orders were confidential, the vessel was unable throughout the voyage to communicate directly with her owners, although communication by way of an intermediary in London did occur during stops in ports along the way. On December 14, the convoy the Ioannis had finally joined, after waiting 16 days at Port Said and three days at Great Bitter Lake, reached Aden. The Ioannis, drawing water uncontrollably through her stern gland and suffering severe vibrations in her tailshaft, dropped out for repairs. Due to the needs of the British Navy, drydock facilities were unavailable, so the tailshaft had to be drawn for inspection while the ship was afloat. To facilitate this, much cargo, including the cheese here in question, had to be removed and stored on lighters, where it was covered with tarpaulins; according to the agreed summary of the master's deposition, "There were no warehouse facilities at Aden where the cargo could be taken." By the uncontradicted deposition of the chief officer, the cheese had not begun to spoil when it was so removed. Wartime conditions caused the repairs, normally taking some three days, to require 35. The chief officer observed that, when the cheese was reloaded, it was spoiling — "it was leaking through the cases and barrels and had begun to develop a certain odor." Thereafter the Ioannis stopped in Durban for 13 days to take on bunkers and to make some condenser repairs; later, after a fire in the tobacco, she was at Barbados for 23 days. The Ioannis finally arrived at Norfolk on May 3, 1941, and in New York on May 8. A surveyor found the cheese to be "Melted with a terrible stench, and worthless"; it was subsequently sold for about a sixth of what its sound value would have been. Seventeen drums of the Cory shipment of olive oil and five of the Pompeian were cut and leaking; also, the latter was one drum short.

On May 15, 1941, the owners of most of the tobacco filed libels in the Southern District of New York, alleging damage to their cargo in excess of a million dollars. Nearly a year later, on May 7, 1942, the owners of the cheese and the olive oil (along with one additional tobacco consignee no longer in the case), all acting through the same proctors as the earlier libelants, filed libels. Trial of the consolidated libels was destined to be long deferred — we must recount the highlights of this delay because of the question raised as to the interest award.

Orders were first entered staying trial until the end of the war because of inability to get needed testimony in Greece while hostilities persisted. The history of what happened between 1945 and March, 1958, when all the cargo damage claims came to trial before Chief Judge Ryan, largely concerns the tobacco claims — understandably so when it is remembered that the tobacco loss amounted to nearly fifty times as much as the cheese and olive oil damage. 1946 and 1947 were devoted to obtaining answers to interrogatories and taking depositions in Greece. In April, 1948, counsel turned their attention to the trial of a libel primarily concerning damage to tobacco shipped from Piraeus on the SS. Katingo Hadjipatera at the same time and by the same route as the Ioannis' voyage. This was decided in November, 1948, American Tobacco Co. v. The Katingo Hadjipatera, 81 F.Supp. 438 (S.D. N.Y.1948), modified and aff'd, 194 F.2d 449 (2 Cir. 1951), cert. denied, 343 U.S. 978, 72 S.Ct. 1076, 96 L.Ed. 1370 (1952). In the light of the District Court's decision in that case, libelants' proctor went to Greece and Turkey to see whether additional proof was available for the Ioannis litigation. For reasons not necessary to detail, the process of obtaining this proof lasted until September 1, 1955; all parties then filed notice of readiness for trial. However, counsel preferred to give their attention to still a third case involving similar facts, see Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. v. The S.S. Anghyra, 157 F.Supp. 737 (E.D.Va.1957), rev'd in part sub nom. Hellenic Lines Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 277 F.2d 9 (4 Cir.), cert. denied, 364 U.S. 879, 81 S.Ct. 168, 5 L.Ed.2d 102 (1960). In May, 1956, the libels were placed back on the calendar, on condition that an agreed summary of the depositions be prepared; this summary, itself 2000 pages, was not ready until the fall of 1957, and the trial began in March, 1958.

On April 9, 1959, Chief Judge Ryan filed a comprehensive opinion, 173 F. Supp. 140, denying the tobacco owners' claims, action which we subsequently affirmed, 281 F.2d 179, and granting those regarding the cheese and the olive oil. After referral of the latter to a Commissioner and dispute over the interest to be awarded, a resettled final decree was filed on July 25, 1961.

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Related

Clark v. Barnwell
53 U.S. 272 (Supreme Court, 1852)
Schnell v. the Vallescura
293 U.S. 296 (Supreme Court, 1934)
American Tobacco Co. v. The Katingo Hadjipatera
194 F.2d 449 (Second Circuit, 1952)
American Tobacco Company v. Goulandris
173 F. Supp. 140 (S.D. New York, 1959)
American Tobacco Co. v. the Katingo Hadjipatera
81 F. Supp. 438 (S.D. New York, 1948)
Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. v. the S.S. Anghyra
157 F. Supp. 737 (E.D. Virginia, 1957)
The Wright
109 F.2d 699 (Second Circuit, 1940)
General Foods Corporation v. the Troubador
98 F. Supp. 207 (S.D. New York, 1951)
Lekas & Drivas, Inc. v. Goulandris
306 F.2d 426 (Second Circuit, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
306 F.2d 426, 1962 U.S. App. LEXIS 4695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lekas-drivas-inc-v-basil-goulandris-ca2-1962.