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Shipowners found liable in damages to injured longshoreman in U.S. court - Jury’s decision probably erroneous - Whether owners entitled to be reimbursed by time charterers under Baltime form

The vessel was time chartered on the Baltime form. In the course of the charter the vessel discharged a cargo of steel at an American port. The charterers had engaged an American stevedoring firm to “rig, uncover and discharge cargo”. The stevedores employed gangs of longshoremen for this purpose. One gang of four longshoremen was lifting the pontoons covering one of the holds. They placed one of the pontoons on two pieces of dunnage lying athwartships. One of the pieces of timber forming the dunnage had one end resting on a mooring bitt on the deck so that the timber was raised by some six inches off the main deck. One of the longshoremen was standing with his toes just underneath the pontoon when the timber broke, pinching his toes. He suffered injury and loss.