Court Opinion

ID: 9650819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:52:47.671301+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:26.342720
License: Public Domain

McCORD, Circuit Judge
(dissenting),
I think the evidence was abundantly sufficient to show that the chief engineer was one of the ranking officers of the Steamship “Hybert”, and that at the time of the brutal assault upon steward Grubaugh, he was exercising his ■ authority over this unlicensed member of the ship’s crew. It is clearly shown that the chief engineer had full supervision and authority over the machinery of the vessel, including that in the steward’s department; that the steward made the beds in his quarters; and that in the absence of the master and the chief mate he was in full charge of the ship.
The chief engineer, as he had a right to do, sent for the steward, who, as it was his duty to do, responded to the summons and went to the chief engineer. The chief engineer then began telling Grubaugh that he did not like the way he was conducting his department, and that he was going to run him off the ship. Not content to act alone in the assault upon the steward, the chief engineer enlisted and accepted the aid of his first assistant, who joined in the beating and held the steward, who had tried to get away and who was reluctant to and did not strike back at his superior officer. During the assault Grubaugh even appealed to the fourth assistant mate, junior, to protect him, but this mate said he had no authority over these men.
I think that the evidence in this record permits of two reasonable, though inconsistent, inferences: (1) That the assault upon the steward arose out of a purely personal difference or quarrel between the chief engineer and the steward; and (2) that the chief engineer in the exercise of his authority over the steward sought to discipline him, and in doing so made an unwarranted and unprovoked attack upon this helpless man. The issues were properly submitted to the jury, which, as it had a right to do, chose to draw the second of these permissible inferences, and its verdict on this essential and ultimate fact should not be disturbed by this court, even though it might have drawn the first inference had it been sitting as the jury in the case.
The intoxicated chief engineer was a subordinate officer of the ship who had been chosen by the employer and clothed with authority. The owner had selected him to hold a position of authority and to command, whatever his defects and addictions, and while he was exercising or attempting to exercise his authority his wrongful actions were imputable to his master.,
I think that the evidence made a case for the jury; that the trial judge properly *393¡submitted the case; and that the judgment should be affirmed. See Jamison v. Encarnacion, 281 U.S. 635, 50 S.Ct. 440, 74 L.Ed. 1082; Cain v. Alpha Steamship Corporation, 2 Cir., 35 F.2d 717, affirmed 281 U.S. 642, 50 S.Ct. 443, 74 L.Ed. 1086; Nelson v. American-West African Line, 2 Cir., 86 F.2d 730; and Cf. Yukes v. Globe S. S. Co., 6 Cir., 107 F.2d 888, where the only permissible inference from the record was that the fight arose out of a purely personal difficulty.
I respectfully dissent.