The Pioneer

78 F. 600, 1897 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 5, 1897
DocketNo. 11,226
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 78 F. 600 (The Pioneer) 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
The Pioneer, 78 F. 600, 1897 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16 (N.D. Cal. 1897).

Opinion

MORROW, District Judge.

This is the usual proceeding, under sections 4282-4285 of the Revised Statutes and the rules of the supreme court of the United States made thereunder (G-en. Adm. Rules 54-58), to determine and limit the liability, if any there be, of the owners of the American schooner Pioneer for certain injuries alleged to have been sustained by one Robert Lynas, while employed on said schooner. Lynas instituted, on November 25, 1895, an action in the superior court of the city and county of San Francisco, state of California, against the petitioners in this proceeding and one Gr. T. Morse, to recover damages in the sum of $50,000 for certain injuries alleged to have been sustained by and through the negligence of the petitioners and G-. T. Morse. It seems that the latter person was also a part [601]*601owner of the schooner, and that he has died since the institution of these proceeding's. Thereafter, on January 27, 1896, the petitioners, desiring to avail themselves of the benefits of the limitation of liability act, filed in this court a petition for a limitation of their liability as owners of the schooner. Testimony was taken before the commissioner of the court as to the value of the schooner. The report of the commissioner showed that he found that the appraised value of the schooner, on the 25th day of August, 1894, the date of the alleged accident to Lynas, was the sum of $12,000, and that no freight was ponding on the schooner at that date*. This report was confirmed by the court, no objection being made thereto; and subsequently a bond was given in the appraised value of the vessel. The usual monition was issued, directed to said Robert Lynas and his attorneys, and to all persons claiming damages» for any and all loss, damage, or injury, caused by or resulting from the accident to said Robert Lynas in said petition mentioned, citing them to appear before Southard Hoffman, United States commissioner, and malte due proof of their respective claims, at or before a certain day named in the writ, not less than three months from the issuing of the same, and also at said time to appear and answer the petition. The usual injunction was also issued restraining- and enjoining the said Robert Lynas and his attorneys from the further prosecution of said suit; in the superior court of the city and county of Ban Francisco', state of California, and all and any suits against said petitioners, or either of them, in respect to any claim for loss or damages occasioned, incurred or arising out of or in consequence of the accident to said' Robert Lynas ou the said schooner Pioneer as in said petition and the complaint in said action in said superior court alleged, either in the courts of ihe state of California, or in the United States courts, or elsewhere. Subsequently, on the 18th of March, 1896, the attorneys for Robert Lynas filed a motion and notice of motion to dissolve the injunction. After hearing duly had, this motion was denied. Thereafter, on June 1, 1896, Lynas filed, in this court, his claim for damages against the petitioners, and, on July 26, 1896, he filed his answer to the allegations of the petition. Upon the issues as thus made, testimony was taken and the case was submitted to the court for decision on November 33, 1896.

The salient facts of the case are as follows: The schooner Pioneer, owned by the petitioners, was lying, on the 25th of August, 1891, in the Bay of San Francisco, alongside a wharf or dock near Fourth and Channel streets, and, at the time the respondent Lynas was injured, was being loaded with barrels of cement or lime. The schooner lay with her port side to the wharf. The respondent Lynas was then in the employ of the owners of the vessel as a ship carpenter, engaged between-decks in making certain repairs in the forward hold of the vessel. These repairs consisted, for the most part, in strengthening the knees of the schooner, and refastening the ceiling, as far as it could be done, with big spikes. While engaged in this labor, with several other shipwrights, it was necessary for the respondent to come up on deck in order to cut pieces of iron into holts of the desired length. This portion of the work could not be done [602]*602conveniently in the bold, on account of the floor being covered to a considerable extent with railroad ties, part of the cargo of the schooner. The pieces of iron referred to were located on the deck forward of the forward hatch. The respondent says they were on the starboard side of the vessel, while the captain states that they were more to the center of the deck. It was while coming np on deck through the forward hatch, on a ladder placed there for that purpose, in order to cut the pieces of iron into bolts of the proper length, that the respondent, just as he was emerging from the hold above the hatch coaming, was struck by a swinging barrel on the side of the head with such force that he was knocked down the hatch, falling a distance of about eight feet, fracturing his spine and skull, and otherwise being severely injured and bruised. The only practical method of getting on deck was by-means of the ladder placed in the forward hatch. The size of this hatch was about 11x12 feet, and the ladder was about 18 inches wide, and rested, at the top, against a beam at the after side of the hatch, and was placed rather to the starboard side of the hatch. The beam against which the ladder rested ran across the hatch, — that is, athwartships, — and was about 18 inches below the deck. The respondent testified that the ladder was on the starboard side of the fore hatch; that sometimes it was right close against the starboard hatch coaming and at other times it was probably three or four inches off, or might have been a foot off; sometimes they would have to move the ladder around in the bottom; they used to change it a little, so as to get the barrels to roll around; it had quite a good slant. Witnesses for the petitioners testified on direct examination that the respondent could have reached the deck through the main hatch, but they had to admit, on cross-examination, that egress and ingress through the main hatch was impracticable, and this for the reason that the approach to this hatch was inconvenient and difficult, as there were several tiers of barrels stowed between the forward and main hatches. The first mate admitted that, in order to reach the main hatch, it would be necessary, to crawl over the barrels. The evidence on this point shows clearly and beyond any doubt that the ladder in the fore hatch was the only convenient and practicable avenue of egress and ingress from the deck to the forward hold. In the language of the captain of the schooner: “The ladder was put down there to go up and down on. Mr. Lynas and the rest of the crew that were working used that ladder to go up and down on that morning.” Upon the morning in question, the loading of barrels of cement 'had been going on from about 7 o’clock, and, according to the testimony of the second mate, some 80 or 40 barrels had been loaded prior to the accident, which happened about 8 o’clock, probably after 8 o’clock. The loading was being carried on across the port side of the vessel into the forward hatch. It appears from the testimony of the respondent that he had been told by the captain of the schooner, also a part owner and one of the petitioners, that he would not be interfered with in his work in the fore hold by the loading that was going on, and he had been urged to expedite his labors as much as possible so that that part of the hold might be utilized for stow[603]*603ing purposes.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 F. 600, 1897 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-pioneer-cand-1897.