Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc. v. Hicks, 285 U.S. 502 (1932)

Spencer Kellogg & Sons, Inc. v. Hicks

No. 430

Argued February 16, 17, 1932
Decided April 11, 1932 *
285 U.S. 502

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

1. A corporation operating a factory on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River owned a launch which it used for ferrying employees to and from their work there, a distance of somewhat more than a mile. The launch was not seaworthy when ice was in the river, and the company had therefore instructed the manager of the factory, who also controlled the use of the launch, not to allow it to be used when ice was, or was likely to be, present. Disobedience to these instructions, by the master of the launch, resulted in injuries and deaths of passengers.

Held:

(1) In view of weather conditions and observation of ice in the river some days before, the manager should not have rested upon a mere instruction to the master not to run through ice, but should have assured himself by inquiry or by personal investigation that the launch would not incur the hazard. P. 510.

(2) The manager’s agency was such that his " privity or knowledge " was that of the company. P. 511.

(3) The company being thus chargeable with negligence in not taking measures for the safety of the passengers which the weather conditions required, could not, under R.S., § 4283, limit its liability to the value of the launch. P. 511.

(4) The rule exculpating the ship owner from "privity or knowledge" in cases of accident on the high sea due to the master’s negligence in disobeying instructions is inapplicable to this case. P. 511.

2. Where an employer of laborers owned a boat in which it transported them to and from their work, on navigable waters of the United States, and the boat while so employed was sunk by negligence, held a maritime tort for which the survivors and the representatives of the dead were entitled to relief in a court of admiralty under the rules recognized by admiralty, including a state statute allowing recovery for death by wrongful act, and that the remedies afforded by a state workmen’s compensation law were inapplicable. P. 513.

52 F.2d 129, reversed.

Certiorari, 284 U.S. 610, 611, to review the affirmance of a decree in admiralty which held the above-named petitioner responsible for injuries and deaths resulting from the sinking of a vessel, and, because of its privity and knowledge, denied its application to limit its liability. Petitioners in the second case, No. 444, were denied relief by the decree upon the ground that their claims should be prosecuted under a state workmen’s compensation law.