Midwest Marine, Inc. v. Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.

247 F. Supp. 283, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6079
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedNovember 4, 1965
DocketNo. 61-C-1
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 247 F. Supp. 283 (Midwest Marine, Inc. v. Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Midwest Marine, Inc. v. Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., 247 F. Supp. 283, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6079 (E.D. Wis. 1965).

Opinion

GRUBB, District Judge.

This is an action by Midwest Marine, Inc., an Illinois corporation (hereinafter designated “Midwest”) to recover for [284]*284damages to two White Superior diesel engines that the defendant, Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, a Wisconsin corporation (hereinafter designated “Sturgeon Bay”), partially overhauled and installed in the M. V. EDWARD W. RENWICK (the vessel has been renamed and will be referred to hereinafter as the “TAMMY GRANT”). The intervening plaintiff, Glens Falls Insurance Company, is the partially sub-rogated insurer of Midwest. The word “plaintiff” will be used to refer to Midwest unless otherwise noted. The defendant has counterclaimed against the plaintiff for pay for the work it did on the TAMMY GRANT.

Jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship, and the amount in controversy exceeds $10,000.00.

This case, involving a contract for repair of a vessel, is governed by maritime law; and an oral contract for repair of a vessel gives rise to an implied warranty of workmanlike services. Booth Steamship Co. v. Meier & Oelhaf Co., 262 F.2d 310 (2d Cir. 1958). Trial .of the case was to the court.

The TAMMY GRANT was acquired by Midwest in July 1959. This vessel was delivered to the defendant for the purpose of removing the engines in it at the time of acquisition by Midwest and installing the two engines involved in this litigation, and doing other work not here involved.

The engines in question are two of three engines that at one time were in a vessel known as the MARJELEA. In July 1957, these three engines were purchased by Chicago Towing Company for $50,000.00. Chicago Towing Company is related to Midwest — Kenneth Hales serves as president of both corporations. The three engines in the MARJELEA were mechanically identical except for the direction of crankshaft rotation. These engines had been in the MAR-JELEA since that vessel was built in 1947. They were overhauled every twelve to eighteen months. The last overhaul of the engines was four months before they were removed from the MAR-JELEA. At the time of their removal, the engines had at least eight months’ running time before another overhaul would be required. Prior to their removal, all three engines were operating equally well. These three engines were removed from the MARJELEA by the defendant in July 1957. One engine was placed in the vessel HARBOR KING which was built for Chicago Towing Company by the defendant. No work, other than cleaning, was done on this engine before it was placed in the HARBOR KING. This vessel went into operation in early 1958. The HARBOR KING was in operation continuously until the time of trial in this case and had been given the routine overhaul twice. The remaining two engines, those involved here, were placed in storage on the defendant’s premises. These engines were sold to Midwest by Chicago Towing Company in July 1959.

In May 1959, Kenneth Hales, president of Chicago Towing Company and Midwest, authorized the defendant to inspect these engines. The results of this inspection were reported orally to Hales by a group consisting of defendant’s shop superintendent, chief engineer, and machinist foreman. The substance of the report was that the engines showed normal wear and tear for ten-year-old engines. Sturgeon Bay recommended that certain specific items of work be done on the engines. Midwest authorized that all the recommended work be done. In the course of the inspection an accumulation of carbon, approximately three-fourths of an inch thick, was found inside the engines. Sturgeon Bay undertook to clean the interior of these engines and the related component parts of the lubricating oil system. Measurements of the engine parts, taken during the inspection, indicated that the engines should provide a year’s service before needing a major overhaul.

After the completion of the cleaning and the work on the engines, they were reassembled and installed in the TAMMY GRANT by defendant on foundations built in the vessel by defendant.

[285]*285When the foundations were installed, the tops of the foundations — the rider bars — were at a lower level than the expected level of the bottom of the engine bases — -the bedplates. This was done to allow some maneuverability to the engines in order that they could be properly aligned. The difference in the elevations of the rider bars and the bedplates was adjusted by the use of chock blocks, pieces of cast iron, resembling wedges, placed between the rider bars, and the bedplates.

The engines were held in place on the foundation by “hold down” bolts that went through the bedplate, the chock block, and the rider bars. The bolts were tightened by using a wrench and a six or eight-pound sledge hammer. After the engines were tightened onto their foundations, an employee of defendant, Frank Kiehnau, took crankshaft deflection readings, which indicate the extent of strain on the crankshaft, and gave the results of these readings to his immediate superior, Mr. Luedtke, machinist foreman of defendant.

Before all the work and installation was completed, Midwest entered into an oral agreement with Code Grant, d/b/a Grant Towing Company, under which Grant would charter the TAMMY GRANT, with the charter hire to be $3,500.00 per month.

When all the work on the vessel was completed, it was given dock and sea trials by the defendant. At the time of these trials, Grant and his prospective chief engineer, Mr. Wills, were present. During the course of these trial runs, a problem was encountered with the lubricating oil strainer (hereinafter designated the “knife edge strainer”). This knife edge strainer was continually stopping up with what appeared to be sludge from the engine. Mr. Wills talked to an employee of defendant about this and was told that the problem was caused by carbon breaking loose inside the engine, and that the condition would be corrected by the movement of the vessel on the delivery run from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin to Joliet, Illinois.

After the trial runs, the defendant delivered the TAMMY GRANT to Midwest at the shipyard of A. L. Mechling Barge Lines, Inc. in Joliet.

On the day the TAMMY GRANT arrived at Joliet, Hales expressed dissatisfaction with the condition of both engines to the secretary and to the chief engineer of the defendant. Hales said that he thought the vessel should be sent back to Sturgeon Bay. Hales agreed to accept the vessel when the defendant’s secretary assured him that the defendant was a reputable shipyard and would stand behind its work, and that the defendant would leave one of its personnel, Mr. Kiehnau, aboard the vessel until the vessel was in proper operating order.

While the boat was still at Joliet, Kiehnau went to Hales and Grant and told them that crankshaft deflection readings had been taken before the vessel left Sturgeon Bay, and that these readings indicated that the engines needed new main bearings, and that if the vessel was operated with the bearings in the condition indicated by the readings, trouble was inevitable.

Hales discounted the ratings because he had been told earlier by Sturgeon Bay that the bearings were adequate for a year’s service and because an employee (unnamed) of the Mechling shipyard at Joliet told him the ratings may or may not be accurate.

On October 20, 1959, the TAMMY GRANT went into service, operated by the charterer, Code Grant.

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Bluebook (online)
247 F. Supp. 283, 1965 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midwest-marine-inc-v-sturgeon-bay-shipbuilding-dry-dock-co-wied-1965.