Badalamenti v. United States
Decision Date | 21 February 1947 |
Docket Number | No. 145,Docket 20430.,145 |
Citation | 160 F.2d 422 |
Parties | BADALAMENTI et al. v. UNITED STATES. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
J. Vincent Keogh, U. S. Atty., and Kirlin, Campbell, Hickox & Keating, all of New York City (Raymond Parmer and Vernon Sims Jones, both of New York City, of counsel), for appellant, United States of America.
Albert Martin Cohen, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Harold L. Fisher, of New York City (Solomon A. Klein, of Brooklyn, N. Y., of counsel), for libellants.
Before AUGUSTUS N. HAND, CHASE and FRANK, Circuit Judges.
The libellants Badalamenti and Scagnelli were longshoremen employed by John T. Clark & Sons. They were engaged in loading the Steamship El Oriente, a vessel owned and operated by the United States. This suit was brought in admiralty to recover for personal injuries to the libellants occasioned by falling through open No. 1 hatch which they suffered on November 22, 1943, while on shipboard. At the time of the accident the work of their gang was at No. 2 hatch in the lower tween deck. The accident happened when they left No. 2 hatch and walked forward on the lower tween deck in the direction of No. 1 hatch into which each one of them fell. Badalamenti was the first to fall; Scagnelli followed shortly thereafter. Both No. 1 and No. 2 were cargo hatches between which there was a deck space of 56 feet.
John T. Clark & Son were employed by the respondent under an agreement which required the respondent to "furnish and maintain in good working order * * * necessary lights on wharves, piers and vessels when lights are required due to darkness," and to furnish "ropes for falls and dunnage."
Prior to and at the time of the accident, another independent contractor, Chelsea Ship Repair Company, was engaged in sheathing bulkheads and decks with lumber in order to form magazines for carrying ammunition.
The libellants were on board the ship for the first time on Saturday, November 20, and worked from 8 a. m. to 12 noon on the upper tween deck at hatch No. 2. They were engaged in loading lumber for the sheathing. While working on the upper tween deck the libellant Badalamenti saw a chain locker and a big light with a full chain in the bow of the ship on the forward side of hatch No. 1. On that Saturday the carpenters group of the Chelsea Ship Repair Company completed all the work that had to be done by them at hatch No. 1 and hatch No. 2 with the exception of a little work to be done on the bulkhead of hatch No. 2. At 5 o'clock that afternoon the carpenters closed both hatches at the top and upper tween decks but left the hatches open on the lower tween decks. With respect to the covers of hatch No. 1 on the lower tween deck the respondent's witness testified that they were stowed away in piles near the hatch. He further admitted that no light was left there and that no guardrail or ropes were put around the open and unlighted hatch.
The trial court made the following findings which were supported by the evidence:
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