Griffith v. Gardner, 13048.
| Decision Date | 07 May 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 13048.,13048. |
| Citation | 196 F.2d 698 |
| Parties | GRIFFITH et al. v. GARDNER. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
L. Chas. Gay, San Francisco, Cal., Saul N. Ross, San Bruno, Cal., Nathan Goldwater, Oakland, Cal., for appellants.
James A. Quinby, Lloyd M. Tweedt, Stanley J. Cook and Derby, Sharp, Quinby & Tweedt, all of San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.
Before HEALY, BONE and POPE, Circuit Judges.
Appellee Gardner filed a petition in Admiralty pursuant to 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 183-189 seeking exoneration from or limitation of liability for all claims arising by reason of unfortunate occurrences on a voyage of the motor fishboat Vega on March 4, 1950, this voyage being from a point on Half Moon Bay on the coast of California, to sea and return. A monition was issued, notice of the filing was given and the said vessel was surrendered to the custody of the court. These formalities are not in issue on this appeal.
Appellants Mrs. Dalgus L. Griffith and William H. Griffith, Jr., filed a claim for the death of William H. Griffith, Sr., and Paul B. Cowell filed a claim for injuries suffered by him on said voyage.1 These claimants thereafter joined in an answer to appellee's petition in which they alleged various grounds of unseaworthiness of the Vega and negligence in her maintenance and operation as a basis of their claims. They prayed for denial of appellee's petition and demanded an award for damages and other relief.
In their joint answer appellants averred generally that on March 4, 1950 Cowell and Griffith, Sr., paid the fee exacted by Gardner and in company with 16 others, became passengers on the Vega for a pleasure fishing trip on the adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean; that the vessel proceeded to sea, and after the passengers had fished for a time, at about 2:30 p. m. on said day, the vessel started the return trip to port; that the sea was rough, and when the vessel was within a few hundred feet from shore it encountered and proceeded through heavy seas and swells which struck and broke over it washing William H. Griffith, Sr. overboard and causing his death by drowning, and throwing Cowell against the side of the Vega, inflicting upon him painful, serious and permanent injuries.
The gravamen of the charge is that the death of Griffith and the injuries to Cowell proximately resulted from the negligence and carelessness of the owners and operators of the Vega and from unseaworthiness of the vessel; that the vessel was unseaworthy and unsuitable for the carriage of passengers on the waters traversed, and not sufficiently officered, manned and equipped for the fishing voyage. Also that the vessel was lacking in stability and of insufficient depth; that her crew was inadequate, insufficient and incompetent; that she was overloaded and overcrowded with passengers; that she was not properly equipped with hand-rails, life-lines, lee-boards, and life jackets and life preservers were inadequate and inaccessible; that the compass and its mountings were improper, inadequate and insufficient, and generally that the vessel and her equipment "were insufficient in other respects" and she was improperly, negligently and carelessly handled, navigated and operated.
At the argument in this court appellants' counsel continued to assert reliance on negligence as a basis for recovery, but stated that his principal reliance was on the charge of unseaworthiness of the Vega.
The main contention of appellee is that the death and injury complained of arose from and were the result of a sudden, unpredictable peril of the sea which was neither caused nor contributed to by any unseaworthiness of the Vega nor by any negligence of appellee or his servants.
Depositions were not used, the entire case resting on conflicting oral statements of witnesses as to what condition or conditions actually caused the accident. In this setting the trial judge had to weigh the testimony and determine from the appearance and demeanor of the witnesses whether the stories they told portrayed the true facts concerning all matters in dispute. Appraising the credibility of these witnesses and the weight to give their stories was his function. We would not be justified in rejecting his findings on issues of fact unless, in light of the record, they failed to set forth a sufficiently clear picture of the fact situation they purported to cover for an appellate court to understand the basis for the court's conclusions of law and decree. It is claimed that the findings in this case are not true findings on relevant facts shown by the evidence but are, in effect, but an expression of the ultimate conclusions of the judge as to the net effect of the...
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...12 ["findings" refers to statements which "bridge the analytic gap between the raw evidence and ultimate decision"]; Griffith v. Gardner (9th Cir.1952) 196 F.2d 698, 701.) This reasoning also lends support to the superior court's reliance upon section 939.9 (see ante, fn. 2), which prohibit......
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