Agrico Chemical Co. v. M/V Ben W. Martin

Agrico Chemical Company (Agrico) (plaintiff) had a general contract with Brent Towing Company, Inc. (Brent) to transport Agrico’s chemical products on Brent’s barges. Brent, in turn, generally contracted with Logicon (defendant) to provide tows to move the barges. In one instance, Agrico needed Brent to use three barges to transport liquid-nitrogen fertilizer from Oklahoma to Louisiana. Brent had only two of its own barges available, so it engaged Logicon to provide a third barge. Logicon employees served as master and crew on this third barge. Unlike Brent’s barges, and most barges used to transport liquid chemicals, Logicon’s barge did not have liquid-tight barriers between its cargo tanks. The Brent employee charged with loading the barges noticed this defect but proceeded to load the fertilizer, anyway. After loading, the Logicon barge began to tilt. The Logicon master ordered the fertilizer to be rebalanced among the barge’s tanks and commenced the towing operation. The barges were successfully towed along the first branch of the voyage, but when the towing recommenced, the Logicon barge again became unbalanced and capsized. Agrico sued Logicon to recover the cost of the lost fertilizer. Logicon then filed a third-party complaint against Brent, seeking indemnification. The district court entered judgment for Agrico as to the damages and entered judgment in favor of Logicon as to indemnification, effectively holding Brent solely liable for the full cost of the damages. Brent appealed.