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Admiralty Law Keyed to Maraist
In re City of New York
Citation:
522 F.3d 279 (2008)Facts
On October 15, 2003, the Staten Island Ferry M/V Andrew J. Barberi was making its regular trip from Manhattan to Staten Island carrying approximately 1,500 passengers. The ferry was under the command of Captain Michael Gansas, but Assistant Captain Richard Smith was at the helm. Gansas was not in the operative pilothouse but was in the aft pilothouse preparing for an upcoming Coast Guard inspection. Smith was accompanied in the pilothouse by a deckhand assigned as lookout and a senior mate who had no assigned duties. As the ferry approached Staten Island, Smith released the lookout to assist with docking preparations. Shortly thereafter, Smith “lost conscious or situational awareness” due to fatigue exacerbated by medications he was taking for various medical conditions. The ferry continued at full speed (14-16 knots) and crashed into a concrete maintenance pier about 600 yards from its intended slip. The impact killed ten passengers immediately, with another dying later from injuries, and injured dozens more. Smith had not reported his fatigue or medical conditions to his superiors, and the City’s director of ferry operations, Patrick Ryan, had failed to enforce the City’s internal “two-pilot rule” that generally required both the captain and assistant captain to be together in the operating pilothouse while the ferry was underway.
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