United States v. Chesapeake & Delaware Shipyard, Inc.

WATKINS, Senior District Judge.

This suit by the United States, plaintiff, against Chesapeake & Delaware Shipyard, Inc., defendant, is brought under the authority of 33 U.S.C. § 409 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (hereinafter referred to as the “Wreck Act”) 1 for costs incurred by the United States in raising and removing defendant’s sunken barge from the navigable channels of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. During a non-jury trial, the government alleged that, under the theory of res ipsa loquitur, an inference of negligence on the defendant’s part is warranted from the facts, and…