Judge Learned Hand

The District court ruled Conners Co. was partly liable for said damages to a barge as well as the cargo lost by not having someone attending the barge when it broke free from the pier in which it was tied to, Conners Co. asked for a review.

There is no specific rule in determine if the absence of an attendant would make the owner of the barge liable for injuries and damage to other vessels in the event that it would break away from it moorings. There are three variables that should be looked at in determining an owner’s liability, the probability of the kind of incident in question, the gravity of the resulting injury and the burden of adequate precautions. Conners Co. owned a barge that was chartered by a railroad company, the contents of the barge were flour which was owned by the United States and was moored to the pier. Conners Co. chartered a tug company, Carroll Towing Co. to drill out one of the barges, Carroll Towing went on board one of the barges to adjust the mooring lines, as a result the barge broke free, hitting a tanker its propeller and broke a hole in the barge causing the barge to lose it cargo and sink. Carroll Towing would argue that if someone had been aboard observing the leak, then the cargo and barge could have been saved.

The court determined that Carroll Co. should be held partly liable as the court applied the, burden was less than the injury multiplied by the probability formula, which determined that the burden of having an attendant on the barge was less that the gravity of injury of a runaway barge multiplied by the probability that the barge would break free unattended. Judge Hand stated there is no general rule for when the barge owner would have been liable for injuries and damage without a barge attendant. Judge Hand went on to say in order to determine liability the PLB formula should be used, (P) the probability of the event, (L) the gravity of the resulting injury, and (B) the burden of taking adequate precautions...