Opinion ID: 391190
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: problems of a sister ship

Text: 60 Thirdly, the district court found that Keystone was negligent because it did not properly investigate the cause of the turbine damage on a sister ship of the QUEENY in 1973, which purportedly would have alerted it to a defect in the QUEENY's astern guardian valve. In effect, the court held that due to an allegedly improper repair of another ship's, (the LIBERTY), turbine, the defect in the QUEENY's valve was never found. Yet, the record nowhere indicates that the astern guardian valve on the LIBERTY was damaged in 1973. Nor is there any evidence that personnel on board the LIBERTY had ever experienced a problem with the astern guardian valve similar to the one experienced on the QUEENY. 61 Nothing in the record, therefore, supports the trial court's ruling that the damage discovered on board the LIBERTY should have caused Keystone to be concerned about damage on the QUEENY. Those attending the LIBERTY had determined that the damage to her turbine was the result of small bits of debris left in the steamline which was a plausible explanation. 12 And were we to rule that negligence with regard to the repair of one vessel could be imputed to the operation of another ship that is involved in a collision over a year later, we certainly would be extending the notion of foreseeability beyond reasonable limits. Thus, we hold that it was error for the trial court to find Keystone negligent for failure to determine the cause of the turbine damage on the LIBERTY and relate that information to the QUEENY's earlier valve problem on its maiden voyage.