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Railroad, Construction and Maritime Accident News in New York and New Jersey

Unseaworthiness, Case Results, Maritime


Posted on Oct 05, 2010

RARE SUMMARY JUDGMENT ORDERED ON UNSEAWORTHINESS CLAIM

Hofmann & Schweitzer is pleased do announce a rare decision, where a court has ordered summary judgment in plaintiff’s favor because of the unseaworthiness of the shipowner’s vessel. In Wesley v. City of New York, pPlaintiff was a deckhand on the ferryboat Michael Cosgrove, owned and operated by the City. He was injured while lowering a ramp, called a "bridge," from the terminal dock to the back deck of the ferry. The ramp was connected to pulley systems, known as "chain falls." Each chain fall consisted of an upper pulley system, or block, and a lower block. One chain fall was connected to each lateral side of the ramp, with the chain falls suspended from the overhead gallows beam by means of a single piece of wire rope. The accident occurred when, as plaintiff was lowering the ramp, the operating chain and the load chain in the pulley system became twisted around one another. As he was untwisting the chains, the lower block spun and struck plaintiff in the hand. Plaintiff claimed, unsuccessfully in the court below, that the equipment was unseaworthy, that is, not reasonably fit for its intended purposes, because it spun uncontrollably. Contributing to the hazard was the fact that it was suspended by only a single cable, and further, that the cable from which it was suspended, was not anti-rotational wire. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Department, reversed the court below, and held that plaintiff was entitled to summary judgment on liability.

Wesley v. City of New York

, 2010 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6815 (1st Dept. 2010).

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