Court Opinion

ID: 9653846
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:56:55.232437+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:02.581473
License: Public Domain

L. HAND, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The libelant accepted the risk of striking chance stones upon the flats when he drove his boat over the flats. He did not accept the risk of striking an abandoned abutment, for he had no reason to' suspect its presence, not being chargeable with local knowledge of those waters. The effect of my brothers’ decision is to extend his acceptance to a different risk, and that in effect is to impose a penalty upon him. One may disapprove the driving of such craft in such places at such speeds, but I submit that' in a civil suit that disapproval is immaterial. The question is whether he had any cause to expect such an obstacle, not obstacles of other sorts. It seems to me that the decree below was right.