Waimanalo Sugar Co. v. Pacific Mail Steamship Co.

3 D. Haw. 447
CourtDistrict Court, D. Hawaii
DecidedJanuary 3, 1910
StatusPublished

This text of 3 D. Haw. 447 (Waimanalo Sugar Co. v. Pacific Mail Steamship Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Hawaii primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waimanalo Sugar Co. v. Pacific Mail Steamship Co., 3 D. Haw. 447 (D. Haw. 1910).

Opinion

Dole, J.

The libelant in this case, a corporation, claims four thousand dollars from the libellee, also a corporation, for services rendered the steamship Manchuria by its steam schooner Cummins, of a draft of about 79 tons, and worth about fifteen thousand dollars, the property of the libelant, from August 20th to August 27th, inclusive, the Manchuria during that period being stranded on an exposed shore on the northerly side of Oahu; which assistance it claims interrupted [449]*449its own regular business for tbe time being, and required services which were of an extraordinary character and at great risk to the said steam schooner and of great benefit to the stranded ship, her passengers and cargo; and especially alleges that on the 20th of August it landed passengers and hand baggage from the Manchuria at Waimanalo, making two trips and carrying about 197 passengers; that on the 21st of August it was loading sugar at Waimanalo and, having placed on board about four hundred bags, was, by the agents of the libellee, requested to go to the Manchuria, and immediately responded to such request and went out near the Manchuria but found the sea too rough to make it safe to- do any work, and then went on to Honolulu; that on the 22nd of August it took from the Manchuria and carried to Honolulu about eighty tons of passengers’ baggage and twenty-six boxes of valuables worth about seventy-five thousand dollars; that on the 23rd of August it carried anchors, cables and other salvage material to the Manchuria and received baggage from her which it transported to Honolulu; that on the 24th it carried supplies to the Restorer, a ship then engaged in salvage operations in connection with the Manchuria; that on the 25th, 26th and 27th it stood ready to respond under a general request from the agents of the Manchuria to operate if wanted.

The answer alleges that no work was performed by the said Cummins for the Manchuria, except on August 20th, 22nd and 23rd, except that she went out to the Manchuria on August 21st at the request of libellee’s agents and passed byj and that she did nothing out of her ordinary course of business except on such days; that her work was not of an extraordinary character, nor was she at any time in danger or difficulty thereby; that there was no general request for the Cummins to be ready to bo called upon during the last of the days mentioned in the libel; that the Cummins was used merely as a matter of convenience and not as a matter of necessity, there being other vessels available which could have done the same work; and denies that her services were in the nature of salvage services.

[450]*450The several reserved rulings on objections to questions to witnesses, recorded in the record of proceeding’s in court on the trial of the case, are disposed of as follows: Those on pages 19 and 20, 35 and 103, as to the words in the answer, relating to boats in the water, 106, 171 to 17'8 and following pages, first objection on 249, 299, 306, third objection on 342, 437, 460 and 473, are sustained; those on pages 13, 14, 103, except as to the words in answer relating to boats in the water, 104, 156, 157, 158, 193, 342 first and second objections, 348 and 462, are overruled; motion to strike on page 348, on which a ruling was reserved, is denied, and those on pages 20 and 437 are granted.

The pro forma rulings on pages 6, 7 and 13 are affirmed.

In regard to objections on page 249 and following, to admission of vouchers of payment of compensation to the Pioneer and other vessels assisting in the operations for the relief of the Manchuria, as there seemed to be some confusion in the record showing inconsistency in the rulings, I now rule on such objections as- follows:

The objections are sustained with the exceptions noted hereafter, on the ground that although some authorities allow such testimony, and I believe it should be allowed under some circumstances, yet in this case, the testimony offered relates to vessels so different in size, capacity and steam power from the Cummins that the pay they have received for time of service or for trips made, fails to furnish the court with any definite standard by which the value of the services of the Cummins may bo ascertained. The instances, however, where such other vessels have been compensated upon a quantmm meruit basis for the amount of work accomplished, afford some light on the question of the value of the same kind of work performed by the Cummins and the objections to the testimony relating to the pay they have received for such work are overruled. This finding overrules the objections to questions and answers relating to the services of the steamship Maui.

[451]*451Upon the ruling reserved on page 405, the ruling above relating to page 249 applies.

Puling was reserved on objection, page 425, to introduction of blank passenger ticket from San Francisco to Yokohama. The blank ticket in the files as Exhibit LI is one from San Francisco to Honolulu. ■ This is'admitted and the objection so far as it applies to this is overruled, subject to withdrawal of request by libelant for its production.

On pages 202 and 436, rulings were reserved on objections to testimony relating to negotiations for the engagement of the Cummins after the termination of her services, — the basis of these proceedings. These objections are allowed, the conditions proposed by the libelant creating a status that was so different from the status of the Cummins from August 20th to 27th, that the evidence offered would be of little assistance, and would be misleading in some respects. Moreover, the situation that confronted the Cummins on August 20th and the following days, differed much from that of August 31st, the date of libel-ant’s proposition for an engagement, when the reef landward of the Manchuria, with its depth of water and nature of coral, was better understood.

The question of the character of the services of the Cummins is the main issue in this case. The contention is made by the libellee that the services of the libelant by means of the Cummins were not-in the nature of salvage, but were merely such as should be compensated on the principle, of quantum meruit. The following'facts bear upon this point: (1) testimony that after being informed by the agents of the libellee that the services of the Cummins were no longer required, and bpfore the salving of the Manchuria, the libelant rendered its “bill for emergency services of the S. S. J. A. Cummins,” — and (2) the libel contains no allegation of the performance of salvage work, but that the services were of an extraordinary character and rendered at the great risk, etc., nor does it contain any claim for compensation for services of that nature. If this were a proceeding in rem against the hull and cargo, of the Manchuria [452]*452with the existing allegation as to the nature of the services, the fact that the libelant presented its bill before the salvage of the Manchuria would not probably estop it from its right to salvage compensation for the landing of passengers and cargo, unless the conclusion on the second point should be adverse. In regard to the second point, may the libelant have salvage compensation, in spite of the fact that it has based its claim solely upon emergency services ?

“ Evidence relative to matters not stated in the pleading,, nor fairly within the general allegation, is impertinent and can not be made the foundation of a decree.” Vansciver v. Bryan, 13 N. J. Eq. 434, 436.

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