Kosba v. Bank Line, 1777.

• Decision Date: 07 January 1931
• Docket Number: No. 1777.,1777.
• Citation: 46 F.2d 119
• Parties: KOSBA v. BANK LINE, Limited, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

46 F.2d 119 (1931)

KOSBA v. BANK LINE, Limited, et al.

No. 1777.

District Court, D. Maryland.

January 7, 1931.

Joseph T. England and Julius F. Sandrock, both of Baltimore, Md., for libelant.

Janney, Ober, Slingluff & Williams, of Baltimore, Md., for libelees.

SOPER, District Judge.

The libelant in this case sues to recover for an injury received by him while leaving the steamship Forthbank, then at the dock at Sparrows Point in the port of Baltimore on February 1, 1930, about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. While descending a ladder, the only means of ingress and egress on the ship, he fell, either because he lost his balance or because the ladder slipped, and he then came into such violent contact with the side of the ship that he lacerated the little finger on his left hand and broke a bone in his right kneejoint.

An important consideration in determining the liability of the ship is the character of the business which led the libelant to go on board on the day of the accident. A player piano had been sent to the ship and deposited on the deck. Kosba went on board in order to remove the instrument from the deck and place it in the saloon where the officers could enjoy it. The piano was the personal purchase of the captain, which had been made during the stay of the ship at Baltimore. He not only purchased it with his own money, but paid the expenses of transporting it to the ship, and he also employed Kosba to take the instrument apart so that it might be carried through the narrow doors of the ship and set up in the officers' quarters.

The captain was assisted in the purchase of the piano and in securing Kosba's services by the secretary of the corporation, which was the agent of the ship. But the evidence satisfies the court that the secretary was acting rather in a friendly way in assisting the captain to purchase the instrument and to have it properly installed than as the agent of the ship. The captain happened to say that he wanted to purchase such an instrument, and the secretary, having learned a short time before that such an instrument could be bought, brought the parties together. In short, the court concludes that Kosba went on board the ship for the personal convenience of the captain and not in the interest of the ship.

There is no evidence to indicate that the owners of the ship had any part in the transaction. The libelant's counsel suggest that the business of the ship was involved, because the piano was on deck and it was important to have it moved into the cabin before the ship sailed, and that, if it had not been removed and the ship's sailing had been delayed, a loss of approximately $800 per day would have been incurred; but the court does not find anything in the testimony to indicate that the ship would have stayed over had the piano not been placed in the cabin on the day of the accident.

A second important circumstance in the case is the manner in which the ladder was attached to the ship at the time that Kosba fell. The ship lay alongside the pier and was being loaded with cargo, and, as the work was nearly finished, she was about to sail. The ladder was approximately 30 feet long and extended from the pier to a distance of 7 to 10 feet above the deck of the ship. It rested at the upper end on the rail or deck, and was lashed at this end by ropes which were passed around the uprights of the ladder, and attached to the rail of the ship in such a way that the ladder was securely held and could not fall even when not supported at the bottom. But there was some play in the lashing, so that the ladder could move up and down with the tide or with the position of the ship as it settled in the water in the taking on of the cargo.

When Kosba descended the ladder, the foot of it was resting on a ledge 12 inches wide on the side of the pier, and was lodged against a stringer or log 12 inches square in cross section which ran lengthwise on top of the pier. Hence the angle between the side...