Crumady v. The Joachim Hendrik Fisser, 358 U.S. 423 (1959)

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT

Syllabus

Petitioner was injured while working for a stevedoring company engaged in unloading a ship in an American port under contract with a third party to whom the ship had been chartered. Petitioner brought this admiralty suit by libel in rem against the ship, which impleaded the stevedoring company. The District Court found that the ship was unseaworthy, and therefore liable to petitioner, but it also found that the primary cause of the accident was negligence of the stevedoring company which brought into play the unseaworthy condition of the ship, and it directed the stevedoring company to indemnify the ship for the damages to petitioner.

Held: the judgment of the District Court is sustained. Pp. 424-429.

1. The District Court correctly applied the concept of unseaworthiness, and its findings of fact were not clearly erroneous. Pp. 426-428.

2. Since the negligence of the stevedoring company which brought the unseaworthiness of the ship into play amounted to a breach of the warranty of workmanlike service, and that warranty was for the benefit of the ship, the ship is entitled to indemnity from the stevedoring company. Pp. 428-429.

249 F.2d 818 reversed, and judgment of the District Court reinstated.