Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation v. Cornell Steamship Company, of the Tug, Lion

I am constrained to dissent from so much of the court’s opinion as sustains the finding of the District Court, that any damage sustained by the libelant’s structure should be visited upon the “Lion.”

It is not disputed that there was a rubbing along the “icebreaker” by two scows at the tail end of the Cornell tow, on the port side. Thus the fact of contact or collision, if that term be preferred, is accepted as a datum.

The libelant rested under the necessity also of demonstrating that the damage of which it complains, was caused thereby. That proposition is self-evident, but authority to…