United States v. Carroll Towing Co.

In this case, the plaintiffs were the United States, owner of a shipment of flour, and the Connors Company, the owner of a barge on which the flour was being transported. The defendant was the Carroll Towing Company, the owners of a tug boat in charge of the barge when it sank.

The defendant's tug company was in charge of the plaintiffs' barge and cargo in New York Harbor. The defendant's employee was negligent in shifting the barge's mooring lines, causing the barge to float away and sink in the harbor. The plaintiff, Connors Company, did not have a bargee on the barge at the time of the accident.

The plaintiffs sued the defendant for loss of the barge and cargo. The trial court did not grant full recovery to the plaintiff-barge owner due to the negligence of the bargee in being away from the barge when it got into trouble. The plaintiff-barge owner appealed the reduction in its recovery, arguing that it was not negligent for the barge to be unattended.

The issue on appeal was whether the plaintiff-barge owner was at partial fault for not having a bargee on the barge at the time of the accident.

Although this case deals with a question of the plaintiff's fault, the issue of how to define fault is the same as in cases dealing with a defendant's fault.