Rice v. The Marion A. C. Meseck

FRANK, Circuit Judge.

The damage to the tug was the result of forcing the barge into place against the ice. The trial court judge did not find that no one was negligent nor that the scow had contributed to the damage. He exculpated the tug on the theory that the directions and advice given by the steamship company’s employees insulated the tug from liability. That theory is untenable. The tug owed the scow the duty “to do the work in a seamanlike manner.” 1 It may be that the steamship company and its employees, had they been sued by the libellant, would have been held liable; but that fact…