Johnson Line, a Corporation v. Shaun Maloney

HEALY, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree in admiralty awarding appellee the sum of $22,300 and costs for injuries suffered while in the course of his employment as a longshoreman aboard the SS Golden Gate, a merchant vessel owned and operated by appellant.

But two questions are raised on the appeal, and these are quite narrow. One is whether or not, under the evidence, the trial court erred in refusing to apply to the case the so-called “rule of transitory unseaworthiness,” otherwise known as the Cookingham doctrine. 1 The other contention is that the damages awarded are excessive.

T…