Sargent Barge Line, Inc. v. Wyomissing

CLARK, Circuit Judge.

In The Rob, 2 Cir., 122 F.2d 312, 313, we reversed a ruling that a summer squall along the Hudson' was an inevitable accident excusing a collision of vessels in that river. Judge Swan for the Court quoted from several earlier cases to the effect that “the burden of this defense is heavily upon him who asserts it.” We have here a comparable situation, except that it is the ice of winter which the trial court has held to be the cause of the accident in issue. As before, we believe that the cause of the accident was more negligent navigation than inevitable accident or act…