Pendleton v. Benner Line

MR. JUSTICE HOLMES delivered the opinion of the court. This is a libel brought by the Benner Line against the Pendleton brothers upon a charter party purporting to be made between ""Pendleton Bros., agents of the schooner 'Edith Olcott"" and the libellant, and signed ""Pendleton Brothers."" The ground of the suit is that the vessel was unseaworthy at the beginning of the voyage and that by reason thereof she sank and her entire cargo was lost. Both Courts below held that the unseaworthiness was proved, and on the evidence that question may be laid on one side. As one of the Pendleton brothers was not interested in the vessel he was dismissed from the suit without objection. The other, the petitioner, who signed the firm name, being a part owner, was held by the District Court to be bound by the warranty of seaworthiness contained in the contract, but entitled to the statutory limitation of liability. Act of June 26, 1884, c. 121, ? 18, 23 Stat. 57. 210 Fed. Rep. 67. The Circuit Court of Appeals held that the statute did not cover the case. 217 Fed. Rep. 497. 133 C.C.A. 349. A decree was entered against the petitioner for the total loss. Both Courts agreed that the Benner Line although owning none of the cargo was entitled to sue for the loss of it and this proposition and the matter of the applicability of the Act of 1884 are the two questions argued here.