Iligan Integrated Steel Mills Inc. v. Ss John Weyerhaeuser

FRIENDLY, Circuit Judge: In this action for cargo damage in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, cargo appeals from that part of the judgment which limited its claim against the ship, its owner, and the time charterer to $500 per package pursuant to § 4(5) of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 46 U.S.C. § 1304(5), perhaps only some $94,000, as against approximately $2,200,000 which represents the full amount of damage to cargo. The ship and its owner appeal from so much of the judgment as awarded the time charterer indemnity for all of its attorneys' fees incurred in resisting cargo's claims. The action, tried before the late Judge McLean, was disposed of in a thorough opinion by Judge Ward, 372 F. Supp. 859 (S.D.N.Y. 1974), whose statement of the facts we incorporate by reference. Since we are substantially in agreement with Judge Ward's opinion, we shall limit ourselves to a few observations.