United States v. Ballard Oil Co. Of Hartford, Inc

The only question involved in this appeal is whether the escape of oil from the defendant’s tank, which found its way into the Connecticut River at Wethersfield, Connecticut, constituted a violation of § 407 of Title 33 U.S.C.A. Agents of the defendant were emptying one of its barges which lay in the river into a tank on the shore, but they negligently forgot to observe that the tank was already partly full. Consequently they pumped into it 6700 barrels of oil more than it would hold, which spilled over and found its way through a waste pipe into the river. It spread on the surface of the…