Peter Pannell, Libelant-Appellee v. United States Lines Company

SWAN, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from an interlocutory decree for libelant in a suit to recover cargo damage. The damaged cargo was a yacht shipped from London to New York on the deck of respondent’s S.S. American Flyer in May 1953. In unloading the yacht it sustained damage through fault of the carrier. The latter concedes its responsibility but maintains that its liability is limited to $500. by the terms of the contract of carriage. The District Court held it was not so limited, and granted recovery on the basis of $500 per “customary freight unit” pursuant to § 4(5) of the United *498Stat…