Bouker Contracting Co. v. Williamsburgh Power Plant Corp.

AUGUSTUS N. HAND,

Circuit Judge. This is a libel in admiralty filed by Bouker Contracting Company, owner of the dump scow 73-H, to recover damages occasioned by the sinking of its barge at the plant of the respondent, Williamsburgh Power Plant Corporation, through the negligence of the latter’s employees in placing the scow at a berth where there would be insufficient water at some stages of the tide to float her when fully loaded. The District Judge granted an interlocutory decree in favor of the libellant, but only allowed half damages on the ground that the latter had itself been guilty of…