Bornhurst v. United States

MATHEWS, Circuit Judge.

At all pertinent times, the tanker Puente Hills was owned, operated and employed as a merchant vessel by appellee, the United States. On and prior to May 12, 1945, appellant, Qyde Burdette Bornhurst, was employed by appellee as a seaman on board the Puente Hills, his duties being those of a wiper in the engineer’s force. On May 12, 1945, while the Puente Hills was on navigable waters of the Pacific Ocean off Finschaven, New Guinea, appellant was injured when a tank top fell and struck his hands.

Thereafter appellant, by his guardian ad litem, Isabel Bornhurst,1 filed a…