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Admiralty Law Keyed to Maraist
Kermarec v. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique
Citation:
358 U.S. 625, 79 S. Ct. 406, 3 L. Ed. 550, 1959 AMC 597 (1959)Facts
On November 24, 1948, Joseph Kermarec boarded the S.S. Oregon, owned by Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, which was docked in New York City. Kermarec came aboard to visit Henry Yves, a crew member, for a purely social visit and to give him a package for a mutual friend in France. Following customary practice, Yves had obtained a pass from the executive officer authorizing Kermarec’s visit. As Kermarec was leaving the ship several hours later, he fell and was injured while descending a stairway. He alleged that his fall was caused by a defectively secured canvas runner on the stairway. Kermarec filed suit in federal court based on diversity jurisdiction, claiming both unseaworthiness and negligence. The district court applied New York law, eliminated the unseaworthiness claim, and instructed the jury that Kermarec was a “gratuitous licensee” who could recover only if the defendant had failed to warn him of a dangerous condition within its actual knowledge.
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