United States v. Ballard Oil Co. of Hartford, 42
| Decision Date | 03 April 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 42,Docket 22083.,42 |
| Citation | 195 F.2d 369 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. BALLARD OIL CO. OF HARTFORD, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Benjamin Hinman, Shipman & Goodwin, Hartford, Conn., Robert Ewing, Hartford, Conn., of counsel, for defendant-appellant.
Adrian W. Maher, U. S. Atty., Hartford, Conn., Wallace R. Burke, Hartford, Conn., of counsel, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before L. HAND, AUGUSTUS N. HAND and CHASE, Circuit Judges.
The only question involved in this appeal is whether the escape of oil from the defendant's tank, which found its way into the Connecticut River at Wethersfield, Connecticut, constituted a violation of § 407 of Title 33 U.S.C.A. Agents of the defendant were emptying one of its barges which lay in the river into a tank on the shore, but they negligently forgot to observe that the tank was already partly full. Consequently they pumped into it 6700 barrels of oil more than it would hold, which spilled over and found its way through a waste pipe into the river. It spread on the surface of the water for a mile upstream and three miles downstream into the "boat basin" at Wethersfield Cove, where it was The judge found that "the nature and effect of the oil which escaped was to impede navigation," and fined the defendant $1500.
The section creates two separate, though kindred, offences: (1) to "suffer" "refuse matter" to be "discharged, or deposited * * * into any navigable water"; (2) to "suffer * * * to be deposited material of any kind in any place on the bank of any navigable water, * * * where the same shall be liable to be washed into such navigable water, either by ordinary or high tides, or by storms or floods, or otherwise". Textually, the second clause is limited by the concluding phrase "whereby navigation shall or may be impeded or obstructed"; and that interpretation fits well into its purpose, provided one reads it as covering only "material" which gravity alone will not carry into a stream. Considering the probability that the two sentences were not meant to overlap, it is more reasonable to read the second sentence in this way; and if so, the facts did not establish an offence within the second offence; for it needs no argument to show that the defendant in no wise "deposited" the oil "on the bank"...
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