Barlow v. Pan Atlantic SS Corporation, 176.
| Decision Date | 06 February 1939 |
| Docket Number | No. 176.,176. |
| Citation | 101 F.2d 697 |
| Parties | BARLOW v. PAN ATLANTIC S. S. CORPORATION et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Jacob Rassner, of New York City, for appellant.
Barber, Matters, Gay & Vander Clute, of New York City (Russell C. Gay, of New York City, of counsel) for appellees.
Before MANTON, SWAN, and AUGUSTUS N. HAND, Circuit Judges.
This litigation arises out of physical injuries sustained by Walter H. Barlow during his employment as an ordinary seaman on the "Panama City," a vessel owned and operated by the Pan Atlantic Steamship Corporation. On the evening of September 27, 1937, while the vessel was lying at a dock in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, N. Y., Barlow fell from the saloon deck to the well deck, a distance of about eight feet. His story of the accident is that he was sitting on a box placed near the top of the ladder leading to the well deck and was listening to a radio in the room of the third assistant engineer, when another seaman, negligently rushing by, came into contact with him so violently as to throw him off the box and down the ladder. The story told by witnesses for the shipowner is that Barlow went ashore, returned to the vessel in a state of intoxication, and because thereof fell from the ladder when trying to descend to the well deck. The ladder was in perfect condition and well lighted. Strub, the third assistant engineer, came from his room on hearing the sound of a fall, saw Barlow lying on the deck below with a bloody head, and sent a junior engineer to call Ellis, the second mate. These three took him to the first mate's room, because of its nearness to the ship's hospital room, and Ellis bathed and bandaged his wounds. He was able to walk back to his bunk in the forecastle, and Ellis saw that he went to bed, and told another seaman who slept in the same room to keep an eye on him and notify Ellis if he appeared to be suffering during the night. The next morning Barlow complained of soreness in his chest, and an ambulance was called to take him to the Marine Hospital at Staten Island. There it was determined that he had received a serious injury to the brain and spinal cord.
The libel asserts three alleged causes of action, the first count charging negligence of a fellow seaman in causing the fall, the second failure to provide prompt, adequate and proper medical treatment, and the third refusal to pay the expenses of maintenance and cure. The district judge found that the accident was caused by Barlow's intoxication and dismissed his libel.
The appeal raises only a question of fact as to the first count. Plainly there was ample evidence to support the finding that the libellant fell down the ladder because he was drunk. There was no corroboration of his story that Karafile ran against him, knocking him off the box, and Judge Galston did not believe it. It is elementary that the weight of the evidence on an issue determined by the trial judge is not to be reviewed by an appellate court. If there was error, as argued, in admitting the hospital record and Barlow's signed statement that neither the vessel nor any of its crew was to blame for his fall, the error was harmless, for Judge Galston's opinion states that regardless of these documents his finding would be the same.
Complaint is made that nothing was said of the second cause of action in the trial court's opinion. Although the opinion invited the parties, if they so...
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