Schroeder Bros., Inc. v. The Saturnia

Decision Date22 September 1955
Docket NumberNo. 301,Docket 23548.,301
PartiesSCHROEDER BROS., Inc., et al., Libellants-Appellees, v. The SATURNIA and Italia Societa Anonima Di Navigazione, Claimant-Respondent-Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

F. Herbert Prem, New York City (Bigham, Englar, Jones & Houston, New York City, on the brief), for libellants-appellees.

John C. Moore, New York City (Haight, Deming, Gardner, Poor & Havens, Tallman Bissell, and Karl V. Kerth, New York City, on the brief), for claimant-respondent-appellant.

Before CLARK, Chief Judge, and FRANK and STALEY, Circuit Judges.

STALEY, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is from an interlocutory decree entered in an admiralty action in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, whereby it was ordered that the libellants, Schroeder Bros., Inc., recover for damaged cargo (shipments of fresh chestnuts) which was being transported to the United States from Italy aboard the motor vessel "Saturnia," owned and operated by the claimant-respondent (respondent) "Italia" Societa Anonima di Navigazione. The matter was referred to a Special Commissioner to ascertain and compute the amount of damages.

During the latter part of October and the early part of November, 1948, the Saturnia received a cargo of fresh chestnuts from certain Italian shippers at Naples and Genoa and was to deliver the chestnuts to certain consignees in New York. Upon arrival in New York on November 14, 1948, the Saturnia was unable to discharge the chestnuts because of a longshoremen's strike and so returned to Naples, arriving on November 26. The shippers had been notified by a circular letter that the Saturnia would return to Naples on November 26 and would unload the chestnuts if certain conditions having to do with bills of lading and bank guarantees were met by the shippers. On the morning of November 26, the Saturnia arrived in Naples and remained there for about seven hours, but the chestnuts were not unloaded. On the same day, the Saturnia left Naples and went to Genoa, where it remained for several days before again returning to Naples and then to New York, arriving on December 10, 1948. The chestnuts, which had remained aboard the Saturnia during the three crossings of the Atlantic, outturned damaged in New York, mold having set in due to a lack of sufficient ventilation while in stowage.

The district court, 123 F.Supp. 282, found that the chestnuts were still in good condition when the Saturnia left Genoa for its third transatlantic voyage. The respondent was held liable for the damage after the district court concluded that the chestnuts were given the proper preshipment treatment and were in good condition when received by the Saturnia; that the New York strike was not the cause of the damage; that the respondent had wrongfully refused to discharge the chestnuts in Naples when properly requested to do so by the shippers; and that the Saturnia was unseaworthy because of failure to supply and use proper dunnage and the respondent was negligent in stowing and caring for the chestnuts, in that the dunnage necessary for sufficient ventilation was not used.

In our view of the case, it is unnecessary to decide some of the questions raised by the appellant.

It is well settled that the carrier of goods by sea is prima facie liable for damage to cargo which, although in good condition when received by the carrier, outturns damaged at the end of the voyage, unless the carrier can affirmatively show that the immediate cause of the damage was an excepted cause for which the law does not hold him responsible. Schnell v. The Vallescura, 1934, 293 U.S. 296, 303-307, 55 S.Ct. 194, 79 L.Ed. 373; Edmond Weil, Inc., v. American West African Line, Inc., 2 Cir., 1945, 147 F.2d 363, 366.

In the case at bar, the respondent raised two defenses which it claimed relieved it from liability under Sections 1304(2) (j) and (m) of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act.1 The defense under Section 1304(2) (m) was inherent vice of the goods. Respondent claimed that the chestnuts became moldy because they had not been given the proper preshipment treatment by the shippers. The district court found to the contrary and concluded that the chestnuts had been properly treated before shipment, and we think that conclusion is sufficiently sustained by the record. Various experts testified concerning the necessary preshipment treatment of chestnuts, and the evidence was by no means harmonious on this point. The trial judge refused to give much weight to the respondent's expert, Dr. Vitagliano, who "displayed only a limited acquaintance with the subject and the character and...

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