The Captain Jack

Decision Date01 July 1908
Docket Number1,560.
Citation162 F. 808
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
PartiesTHE CAPTAIN JACK.

Carpenter Park & Symmers, for petitioner.

C. A Morse and E. H. Rogers, for damage claimant.

PLATT District Judge.

By its petition filed October 28, 1907, the T. A. Scott Company sought the protection of the limited liability law, and offered up its interest in the Capt. Jack in the condition in which she was after an accident which occurred upon her on February 7, 1905, including in such interest 'freight pending at the time of the accident, if any. ' It was sent to a commissioner to make due appraisement thereof, and his report is before me. He finds that, at the time of the appraisement of the derrick scow or lighter Capt. Jack, she was shown to have been worth $2,000 at the time of the accident, but that in reaching this estimate the witnesses had included an engine, drums, and addition to the house which have been put on the lighter since the accident and amount to $700 in value, which ought to be deducted so as to find her worth at the time of the accident. The damage claimant excepts to this deduction, because she says that the commissioner had nothing to base it upon, except testimony that the amount deducted was what the additions cost.

The method adopted by the commissioner was wrong in principle. Starting with a market value in 1907 of the Capt. Jack plus additions since the accident, he ought to have deducted the 1907 value of those additions in order to reach the estimated value in 1905. An examination of the testimony teaches me that the damage claimant has strong reason for urging that the commissioner's information was too meagre to support any conclusion on these points, but I am hopeful that the way in which I shall treat the matter will tend to promote absolute justice in the end. To send the matter back now because of the error would entail more expense than the situation warrants, and my notion is that by cutting the deduction in half a fair result will be reached. The position which I take is based upon the assumption that the experts who enlightened the commissioner would, if they had been put to it, have reckoned the market value of the little engine, drums, and addition to the house at $350, instead of $700. With the report thus modified, the result is an addition of $350 to the total value, making it $3,625.

The commissioner added, 'Amount received for raising the Zouave, $800,' and says that this amount should be...

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3 cases
  • In re Drill Barge No. 2
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • 24 Abril 1972
    ... ... Though mingled with other items of compensation, the earnings of the vessels in this case are no less freight pending than the payment to the Captain Jack, a propulsionless derrick lighter, for raising a sunken vessel from a harbor, The Captain Jack, 162 F. 808 (D.C.Conn.1908), or the earnings of a ... ...
  • The West Hartland
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington
    • 8 Febrero 1924
    ... ... that the vessel was not appraised and released on stipulation ... prior to sale. I think this is sustained by The Captain Jack ... (D.C.) 162 F. 808, as ... [297 F. 332] ... well as on principle. Equity is remedial justice and is ... concerned with the rights of ... ...
  • THE CARSON, 8982.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • 15 Junio 1939
    ... ... Brashear was foaming at the mouth and out of his head. At 3 o'clock, Fancort evidently became desperate and went up to ask Captain Forsyth what to do. He told Forsyth that Brashear was in "bad shape", that he was "pretty bad", but "maybe he could take care of him". (Emphasis ... The Captain Jack, D.C.Conn., 162 F. 808; In re W. E. Hedger Co., 2 Cir., 59 F. 2d 982, 983; The Steel Inventor, D.C.N.Y., 36 F.2d 399, 400; The Main v. Williams, 152 ... ...

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