Klingseisen v. Costanzo Transp. Co.
| Decision Date | 06 February 1939 |
| Docket Number | No. 6783.,6783. |
| Citation | 101 F.2d 902 |
| Parties | KLINGSEISEN v. COSTANZO TRANSP. CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
John D. Ray, of Beaver Falls, Pa., for appellant.
George A. Blackford, of Wheeling, W. Va., and Zeno Fritz, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for appellee.
Before BIGGS, MARIS, and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from an order of the District Court in an admiralty proceeding entering a judgment against the libellant, Margaret Klingseisen, the widow of Alois Klingseisen, who was drowned in a collision between his motor boat and the steamer "Costanzo" in the Ohio River between Rochester and Monaca, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The respondent-appellee, Costanzo Transportation Company, was operating the steamboat by its employees at the time of the collision.
The accident occurred at about two-thirty o'clock in the afternoon upon August 25, 1936. Some breeze was blowing. The weather, however, was good and there was no lack of visibility. The decedent had left the shore in the motor boat, which was of the outboard type, from a dock upon the Rochester side of the river and traveled from four to six hundred feet towards the center of the river where the motor stalled. After some difficulty the decedent succeeded in starting it again, proceeded up the river a short distance in the direction of Conway when the motor stopped a second time. In respect to the facts thus far presented the appellant and the appellee are in accord.
The appellant contends that after the motor of the decedent's boat had stopped the second time, the Costanzo left a coal tipple about thirteen hundred feet below the dock from whence the decedent had embarked and proceeded upstream at a speed between twelve and fifteen miles an hour to the point where the disabled motor boat was floating, that the Costanzo gave no signal or warning of its approach and did not slacken its speed until it was within such a short distance of the motor boat that it could neither stop nor turn away. After striking the motor boat, the Costanzo, according to the appellant, traveled upstream from one to four hundred feet. Klingseisen had disappeared beneath the water at the time of the collision but came to the surface behind the steamboat, sank again and was drowned.
The appellee for its part contends that the Costanzo proceeded from the coal tipple upstream at a rate of from ten to twelve miles an hour and in the regular channel, that Klingseisen was at the rear of the motor boat and facing the approaching steamer but that he did not look up or observe the steamboat until it was too close to him to enable him to take his boat out of the way. The appellee also contends that the Costanzo maintained her speed and direction until she was from two to three hundred feet of the decedent when she reversed her engines but could not avoid the collision. Certain of the appellee's witnesses testified that the Costanzo gave warning to the decedent by whistle.
The learned trial judge found that the appellee was not guilty of negligence. In respect to the operation of the steamer, he stated, "In putting ourselves in his place, we must consider that he (the pilot) had...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hess v. United States
...517, 518. See also Curtis v. A. Garcia y Cia., 3 Cir., 241 F.2d 30; The H.S., Inc., No. 72, 3 Cir., 130 F.2d 341; Klingseisen v. Costanzo Transp. Co., 3 Cir., 101 F.2d 902; Graham v. A. Lusi, Ltd., 5 Cir., 206 F.2d 223; Truelson v. Whitney & Bodden Shipping Co., 5 Cir., 10 F.2d 412; Quinett......
-
The Tungus v. Skovgaard
...4 Cir., 200 F.2d 246; Graham v. A. Lusi, Ltd., 5 Cir., 206 F.2d 223; Lee v. Pure Oil Co., 6 Cir., 218 F.2d 711; Klingseisen v. Costanzo Transp. Co., 3 Cir., 101 F.2d 902; The H.S., Inc., No. 72, 3 Cir., 130 F.2d 341; Feige v. Hurley, 6 Cir., 89 F.2d 575; Curtis v. A. Garcia y Cia., 3 Cir., ......
-
Curry v. Fred Olsen Line
...3 Cir., 1958, 251 F.2d 655 (Pa. law). 37 Graham v. A. Lusi, Ltd., 5 Cir., 1953, 206 F.2d 223 (Fla. law). 38 Klingseisen v. Costanzo Transp. Co., 3 Cir., 1939, 101 F.2d 902 (Pa. law); Curtis v. A. Garcia y Cia., 3 Cir., 1957, 241 F.2d 30 (Pa. law); Mooney v. Carter, 5 Cir., 1907, 152 F. 147 ......
-
Scott v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 16328.
...Curtis v. A. Garcia Y. Cia, 241 F.2d 30 (C.A.3, 1957); The H. S., Inc., No. 72, 130 F.2d 341 (C.A.3, 1942); Klingseisen v. Constanzo Transp. Co., 101 F.2d 902 (C.A.3, 1939). But such a negative argument can hardly buttress Eastern's position, since none of the above-cited cases considered t......