Riley v. Vallejo Ferry Co.

• Decision Date: 30 June 1909
• Docket Number: 13,736.
• Citation: 173 F. 331
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: RILEY v. VALLEJO FERRY CO.

173 F. 331

RILEY v. VALLEJO FERRY CO.

No. 13,736.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

June 30, 1909

Wm Denman, for libelant.

Fredk. W. Hall, for respondent.

DE HAVEN, District Judge.

This is an action, in personam, brought by Stanislaus A. Riley, as administrator of the estate of Josephine C. Ireland deceased, against the defendant, to recover damages for the death of said deceased; the libel alleging that her death was caused by the negligence of the defendant in the operation of the steam ferryboat Vallejo.

1. The defendant was, on January 18, 1907, the owner and engaged in operating the Vallejo, as a common carrier of passengers between the city of Vallejo and Mare Island, and on the afternoon of that day the deceased, in attempting to go on board that boat, for the purpose of taking passage to Mare Island, fell into the waters of San Francisco Bay, and as a result contracted pneumonia, from the effects of which she died on January 22, 1907. The accident occurred in this manner: The deceased, accompanied by three children, her mother, and a lady friend, started down the narrow passageway leading from Georgia street wharf to the ferry slip in which the Vallejo was moored, intending to take passage to Mare Island. The deceased was leading two small children, and her baby, two years old, was in a baby carriage, wheeled by its grandmother. While they were going down the gangway, the Vallejo gave a warning whistle for the purpose of indicating that she was about to start, and the apron of the slip was lifted, about 12 or 18 inches above her deck. Upon reaching the boat, the lady, who was in the lead, stepped aboard, and one of the deck hands assisted the mother of the deceased in getting the baby carriage and its occupant on the boat. The deceased was just behind her mother and had with her the two other children, one on each side of her, and when she attempted to step upon the boat it started, and she and the two children with her fell into the bay. Whether the deceased succeeded in placing her foot upon the deck and was thrown into the bay by the sudden starting of the boat, or whether the boat started as she was in the act of stepping and caused her foot to miss the deck, does not clearly appear; but I am satisfied that the accident was caused in one or the other of these ways. There was no chain or rope across the gangway leading to the Vallejo, and it does not appear whether the...