De Clara v. Barber Steamship Lines, Inc.

Action to recover damages for wrongful death. The plaintiff’s intestate was a longshoreman who was killed when a large metal door fell upon him on a pier where he was working for a stevedoring company. The door, known as door No. 13, was one of 170 doors on a shed on the pier. It was a sliding door at the top of which there were wheels which rolled on rails. The bottom of the door slid through a groove in the floor. The door had frequently jammed and become difficult to slide to the open or shut position. In such cases the longshoremen frequently used crowbars to move the door. On the night…