Boudoin v. Lykes Brothers Steamship Co., Inc. (348 U.S. 336)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 28, 1955 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 348 U.S. 336 · 75 S. Ct. 382
- Decided
- February 28, 1955
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. This is a suit by an American seaman against the owner and operator of an ocean freighter, the Mason Lykes, on which he was formerly employed. He based his claim for recovery both on negligence and on breach of the warranty of seaworthiness. The case was tried by the court upon waiver of jury. The District Court found for the plaintiff, holding that the shipowner breached its warranty of seaworthiness and that its officers were negligent. 112 F. Supp. 177. The Court of Appeals reversed, 211 F. 2d 618. We granted certiorari to resolve a seeming conflict between that opinion and Keen v. Overseas Tank-ship Corp., 194 F. 2d 515, decided by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 348 U. S. 814. Plaintiff was employed in the engine department as an oiler. The ship had a deck maintenance man, named Manuel Gonzales. Plaintiff's injury was inflicted by Gonzales, who, during the course of a night’s drinking party, went to plaintiff’s room and took a bottle of brandy from under plaintiff’s bed. Plaintiff awoke, startled; and Gonzales attacked him with the bottle, causing severe injuries. The District Court placed liability for breach of the warranty of seaworthiness on the holding of the Keen case, where Judge Learned Hand wrote: “The warranty of seaworthiness as to hull and gear has never meant that the ship shall withstand…
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