Court Opinion

ID: 9452376
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:39:08.820107+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:11.737756
License: Public Domain

HAYS, Circuit Judge
(dissenting):
I dissent.
The carrier is not entitled to recover demurrage because it was unable to perform its duty of unloading. Debate as to which was prior in default, the carrier or the consignee, is largely a futile exercise in logic. But if priority must be determined then surely the goods had to be unloaded by the carrier before they could be received by the consignee. Where neither party can perform then neither party can recover. (See Williston on Contracts, 3d Ed. § 875 (1962).)
I have found no other cases which involved the same situation as that presented by the case at bar. The cases cited by the majority (Compagnia Di Navigazione Mauritius Rome v. Kulukundis, 182 F.Supp. 258 (E.D.N.Y.1959), affirmed on the opinion below, 277 F.2d 161 (2d Cir. 1960); Yone Suzuki v. Central Argentine Ry., 27 F.2d 795 (2d Cir. 1928); The Marpesia, 292 F. 957 (2d Cir. 1923); The Hans Maersk, 266 F. 806 (2d Cir. 1920)) are concerned with particular clauses in charter parties and hold merely that a charterer is not relieved of liability for demurrage because the delay was caused by factors beyond his control. This proposition may or may not be acceptable in circumstances not involving charter parties, but in any event it has no application here since the reason why appellant should not be held liable here is not because it was excused by the strike, but because appellee could not make the cargo available to the appellant.
The situation in the present case more nearly resembles those found in United States v. Atlantic Refining Co., 112 F.Supp. 76 (D.N.J.1951) (mistakenly cited by the majority as supporting its result); St. Louis, Southwestern Ry. v. Mays, 177 F.Supp. 182 (E.D.Ark.1959); Southern Ry. v. Alcoa, 119 F.Supp. 389 (E.D.Tenn.1951), affirmed 210 F.2d 139 (6th Cir. 1954); Pacific Portland Cement Co. v. Western Pac. R.R., 184 F.2d 34 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 340 U.S. 906, 71 S.Ct. 282, 95 L.Ed. 655 (1950); and United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Central of Georgia R.R., 226 Ala. 606, 147 So. 891, 87 A.L.R. 1028 (1933), where performance by the shipper or consignee was excused because for one reason or another the carrier was not in a position to perform.