Krey v. United States
| Decision Date | 01 December 1941 |
| Docket Number | No. 53.,53. |
| Citation | 123 F.2d 1008 |
| Parties | KREY v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Arthur S. Gales, of New York City (N. Sinclair Robinson, of New York City, on the brief), for libelant-appellant.
Arthur M. Boal, of New York City (Mathias F. Correa, U. S. Atty., and Tompkins, Boal & Tompkins, all of New York City, on the brief), for the United States.
Before L. HAND, AUGUSTUS N. HAND, and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
This appeal raises the simple question of the seaworthiness of a shower bath on a ship of the United States of America. Libelant sued under 46 U.S.C.A. § 781 for damages for personal injuries and for seaman's maintenance and cure. The district court denied any damages and allowed $500 for maintenance and cure; and libelant here asserts error as to both rulings.
Libelant, Krey, 57 years old, was employed as chief cook on the S. S. Independence Hall, a vessel owned by the United States and operated by the Maritime Commission. At the time of employment he was found by the ship's doctor to be in good health and physical condition. Three days later he was injured while the ship lay over in Philadelphia. This injury occurred as he stepped into the shower used by the crew.
The shower was a metal affair with a concrete floor, on which was placed a wooden mat. The entrance to the shower was fore, and the concrete floor sloped aft to the drain, thus away from the user as he stepped into the shower. At the entrance was a sill about ten inches high, so that a user had to step up in order to get into the shower. The wooden mat or platform was composed of boards about four inches wide running from the front of the shower to the rear with the slope of the concrete floor. The boards, spaced from a half to three-quarters of an inch apart were planed smooth and were likely to be slippery. This slipperiness was contributed to by soapy water swept onto the boards from a movable bench in the shower on which the crew members washed clothes. Within the shower there were no rails, grab handles, or other devices by means of which a bather could catch or support himself when entering or while in the shower.
Libelant stepped into the shower late in the afternoon of August 21, 1939, after several crew members had taken showers. As he brought both feet into the shower, he slipped, striking his leg on a steam pipe and his back on the edge of the sill. He was able to get up unassisted, but the next day he was received in the Marine Hospital in Manhattan for outpatient treatment. Later he entered the Marine Hospital in Staten Island and remained there for a period of eleven weeks.
It is unquestioned that a seaman may recover for an injury caused by the negligence of the shipowner in not providing seaworthy working conditions. Desrochers v. United States, 2 Cir., 105 F.2d 919, certiorari denied 308 U.S. 519, 60 S.Ct. 180, 84 L.Ed. 441; The H. A. Scandrett, 2 Cir., 87 F.2d 708. And the existence of such unseaworthy conditions may very well be found under circumstances which might not be considered unsafe on land because of the increased risks in the circumstances and of the traditional protection accorded seamen as wards of the admiralty. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. v. Smith, 305 U.S. 424, 430, 431, 59 S.Ct. 262, 83 L.Ed. 265; cf. Hume v. Moore-McCormack Lines, 2 Cir., 121 F.2d 336.
The question, then, is solely whether or not the shower was unseaworthy. Normally this would raise only a question of fact, as to which ...
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Barlas v. U.S.
...("An unseaworthy condition can be found in almost anything, no matter how trivial, that causes injury.") (citing Krey v. United States, 123 F.2d 1008, 1010 (2d Cir.1941) ("Viewed as a shower to be used at sea, the absence of any sort of handle or rail for support is alone almost enough to c......
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Shenker v. United States
...is a question of law not within the scope of the "unless clearly erroneous" rule or its admiralty equivalent. Krey v. United States, 123 F.2d 1008 (2 Cir., 1941); Van Carpals v. S.S. American Harvester, 297 F.2d 9 (2 Cir., 1961), cert. denied, 369 U.S. 865, 82 S.Ct. 1031, 8 L.Ed.2d 84 (1962......
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Scoran v. Overseas Shipholding Group Inc
...at 24.) In support of its argument that railings were needed for the vessel to be considered seaworthy, Plaintiff cites Krey v. U.S., 123 F.2d 1008 (2d Cir.1941) (cited in Pl. Mem. at 24), in which the Second Circuit found a ship unseaworthy where it lacked handles or railings on a shower t......
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Puddu v. Royal Netherlands Steamship Company
...is a question of law. Van Carpals v. S.S. American Harvester, supra, 2 Cir., Jan. 10, 1962, 297 F.2d 9 (rehearing denied); Krey v. United States, 2 Cir., 123 F.2d 1008. Cf. Romero v. Garcia & Diaz, Inc., 2 Cir., 286 F.2d 347, 355, certiorari denied 365 U.S. 869, 81 S.Ct. 905, 5 L.Ed.2d 860.......