United States v. Carroll Towing Co.

Connors Marine Co. (plaintiff) owned the Anna C, a barge leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to carry flour owned by the United States (plaintiff). On January 3, 1944, the Anna C was moored at New York Harbor. Connors’s bargee, or employee tasked with watching the barge, went ashore, leaving the barge unattended for over 21 hours. During that time, while attempting to move another barge, the harbormaster and a deckhand on a tugboat owned by Carroll Towing Co. (Carroll) (defendant) and leased to Grace Line, Inc. (Grace) (defendant) readjusted the lines holding the Anna C. The Anna C subsequently broke free from the pier and rammed against a tanker. The tanker’s propeller tore a hole in the Anna C. Unaware of the hole, the tugboats merely pushed the Anna C to a new spot. She soon sank, along with all her cargo. Connors and the United States sued Carroll and Grace for negligence. Connors sought to recover damages for the lost value of the sunken Anna C. Under applicable admiralty law, damages were to be apportioned equally between all responsible parties. To reduce their own liability, Carroll and Grace argued that Connors was contributorily negligent and was therefore responsible for, and unable to recover, a third of the damages. Specifically, Carroll and Grace claimed that had Connors’s bargee been on board when the incident occurred on the afternoon of January 4, the damage to the barge would have been discovered quickly, and she could have been pushed ashore and saved. The trial court concluded that Connors was not contributorily negligent and held Carroll and Grace each liable to Connors for 50 percent of the lost value of the Anna C. Carroll appealed.