Smith & Terry, Inc. v. Clinton

242 F. 582, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1246
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedMarch 17, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 242 F. 582 (Smith & Terry, Inc. v. Clinton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith & Terry, Inc. v. Clinton, 242 F. 582, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1246 (E.D. Va. 1917).

Opinion

WADDILL, District Judge.

The controversy now before the court is between Smith & Terry, incorporated, petitioners in the first-named case, a proceeding in rem against the barge Benefactor, and the same corporation, as libelant in the second case, a proceeding in personam against Joseph F. Clinton, owner of the Benefactor, and grows out of an alleged breach of charter party entered into on the 13th day of December, 1915, between said Clinton, owner of the Benefactor, as the party of the first part, and Smith & Terry. Incorporated, as the party of the second part, whereby the former chartered to the latter for a period of three months, with the option of an additional three months, the barge Benefactor, to transport coal between Hampton Roads, Philadelphia, and Sound ports, at an agreed price of $50 per clay. The party of the first part was to furnish the proper crew, including captain, and pay all expenses connected with the barge, for wages, shipping fees, provisions, etc., and furnish a necessary towing hawser, and agreed to keep the barge in good order, and fitted for such work, during the period of service under the charter.

The cause of action arose from a breach of the charter party, because of the alleged unseaworthiness of the barge. The petitioner in the in rem proceeding makes five separate claims against the barge, as follows:

'!. Bill of tug W. B. Keene, .Cor loss of time. § 300.00
2. Bill of Smith & Terry, Incorporated, owner of tug Underwriter, for loss of time. 300.00
3. Bill of Smith & Terry, Incorporated, owner of tug Underwriter, for towius barge Benefactor from Providence, K. I., to New York. 150.00
4. Bill for dead freight. 425.00
Total . 51,175.00

—together with (5) a claim for $3,351.50, being profits the libelant would have received during the first three months covered by the charter, from December 13, 1915, to March 13, 1916.

In the proceeding in personam libelant sought to recover the sum of $4,602.50, being profits that would have been made, as claimed, during the extended period of their option of three months from March 13, [584]*5841916, had not the barge proved unseaworthy; and in the in personam proceeding libelant has by an amended libel, also set up item No. 5, of $3,351.50, in the in rem proceeding—it being conceded that recovery for that amount cannot be maintained in tire in rem proceeding.

The claims thus made depend on different considerations, and require that they be separately passed upon, which the court will do without undue elaboration.

[1] First. Claims 1 and 2, aggregating $600, for lug hire in connection with the cargo of coal taken before breach of the charter party because of unseaworthiness, presents the question whether a lien in rem attaches against a vessel for breach of an executory contract for towage service, when the service was not actually rendered. The right of lien under such circumstances does not exist under maritime law. Authorities to support this might be given almost without number. The Prince Leopold (C. C.) 9 Fed. 333; The Thomas P. Sheldon (D. C.) 113 Fed. 779, affirmed The S. L. Watson, 118 Fed. 952, 55 C. C. A. 439; The Francesco (D. C.) 116 Fed. 83—are cases which deal directly with this subject, and to them, and the cases therein cited, reference may be had as containing a full statement of the law on the subject.

Libelant insists that, conceding the law to be as stated by the court, they can nevertheless recover, as the liability for the $600 was incurred after the contract of towage had been entered upon; the barge having been brought from Philadelphia to Hampton Roads to receive the cargo. The court does not think that the bills covered by the $600 items can be affected by this towage service, whatever may have been the rights of the charterer, if any, to assert a claim for towing the barge from Philadelphia, which the libelant has not made.

[2] Second. Claim 3, for towage of the Benefactor from Providence, R. I., to New York, $150, should be allowed. The towage was actually performed, and the sugg-estions that the allowance should not be made because the charterers were obligated to return the barge to New York and that this service was not rendered on the faith of the barge, cannot be sustained under the facts of this case. The charterer, it is true, was required at the expiration of the charter period to return the barge to New York; but this expense was not incurred upon that theory at all, but was contracted for taking her back from her port of destination on the Sound, on her return trip, and before she had been abandoned because of unseaworthiness; and it likewise cannot be said that the charterer, while the barge was in its possession, and being actually towed by it, was not looked to as security for the expenses incurred in connection with the barge, while in their service.

[3] Third. This item of $425 is for dead freight, as follows: The charterers claim that the barge had a capacity of 1,350 tons of coal, whereas she only carried 1,180 tons, a shortage, or dead freight, of 170 tons, and that they therefore lost at $2.50 per ton on this deficiency, the sum of $425.

This contention of the petitioner cannot be maintained. In her then condition, 1,200 tons was, as the testimony shows, all she could safely carry. The explanation of the barge’s master seems reasonable, that to have taken on another car of c.oal would have overloaded the barge, [585]*585and hence 1,180, instead of 1,200, tons were taken. Moreover, what Ls said regarding items 1 and 2, as to lack of a maritime lien to support those claims, largely applies here. The mere fact that the libelant claimed that, under its charter party, more coal might have been taken, does not give a lien for loss arising from failure to putjt on board.

Fourth. The fifth item in the in rem proceeding, $3,351.50, as before stated,- has been withdrawn, and asserted in the in personam proceeding, by amended libel which brings the court to the consideration of the in personam proceeding, and the right of the libelant to recover therein, either for the amount set up in the original libel, of $4,602.50, or in the amended libel, of $3,351.50. In considering this feature of the case, it must at the threshold be determined (1) whether any right of recovery exists, by reason of the unseaworthiness of the barge, and (2) whether the libelant is entitled to claim for estimated profits on what it would have made, had the option to extend the charter party for the second three months been taken up, assuming the barge to be seaworthy. These questions will be taken up in the order stated:

[4] (1) The court is convinced, upon full consideration of ail the testimony in the case, that the barge was unseaworthy, and that the libelant was fully warranted in refusing to carry out the contract under the charter party, and that it is entitled to recover for losses sustained by reason of the unseaworthiness of the barge during the first three months of the contract, that is, from December 13, 1915, to March 13, 1916, and that the sum claimed, to wit, $3,351.50, is what it should reasonably recover by reason of the breach of the contract on the part of the respondent.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

European-American Banking Corp. v. M/S ROSARIA
486 F. Supp. 245 (S.D. Mississippi, 1979)
Gilbert v. Wright & Gowen Co.
286 F. 933 (First Circuit, 1923)
Corsica Transit Co. v. W. S. Moore Grain Co.
253 F. 689 (Eighth Circuit, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
242 F. 582, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-terry-inc-v-clinton-vaed-1917.