can i get sued?

Question

was hired by howell industries to transport goods from its plant in gary indiana, to milwaukee wisconsin, a three hour trip. after loading the cargo ship with industries product they set out on the turn. the weather started getting rough and the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the crew the ship would have been lost. i ordered cargo thrown overboard to save the ship. howell is now suing for the lost cargo. can he do this? what were my rights and responsibilty of the cargo? can he sue me for the act of god? something i couldnt prevent.i thrown the cargo overboard to save our lives.

Answer 1

Can you be sued? Yes. People sue for anything.

The question is, do they have grounds for a lawsuit?

In order to sue, you need to prove two things, damages and negligence.

They may argue damages, as they did not get their cargo, however, I'm guessing your insurance will take care of this, and the cargo will just arrive late. The will have to argue the delay caused damages.

I'm not to sure the negligence part will be easy to prove.That may be what saves you.

Answer 2

A bigger question is, was the ship unsafe to handle the amount of load.... and was the captain in neglect to avoid the foreseeable weather change?

In any transportation method, there are parameters you, the ship master, has to go by. In particular, you have to be certain, the ship is able to handle the load. If the ship was properly loaded, it is designed to handle the load in rough sea. I am sure you are not talking about hurricane type weather, and such weather does not come suddenly. (and in 3 short hours)

It is a neglect of the ship master if he failed to properly forecast the weather (ie. left the port knowing rough weather was probable), or overloaded the ship so that what could be a survivable weather made the ship unstable.

If this is a real situation, you'd certainly need a lawyer and not discuss details on public forum.

Answer 3

It depends on your role in the operation overall. If you are in the role of captain, your primary obligation is to the living human occupants, crew and passengers, secondary is the ship itself, and the cargo is disposable if safety requires it.

In the role of the owner of the Minnow, your responsibility depends on the terms of the contract for the shipment of goods, and that probably includes some principles of Marianne, I mean Maritime Law in which I am not versed.

I would expect that the risk of loss of the goods due to exigent circumstances is either on the shipper or the intended recipient, depending on if they were sent FAS or FOB, but not on the carrier.

Answer 4

in maritime law, a captain has the right to have the cargoes to be jettisoned in case of fortuitous events that threatened the life and safety of the crews. it is an exercise of the right to self preservation. however, such right must be exercised prudently that is the law requires the goods to be jettisoned must be the one which burdens the ship and those in the deck must be first considered before the ones in the hull. furthermore, the captain is required to have the inventory of the cargo.

Answer 5

Yeah but you're not going to get life ni prison or death or something, lol, at worst you may get a fine, but I think that's it.

America's society is pretty stupid today, and anyways, it is foolish to fine one who was only trying to save his life, you did the right thing by saving your life, losing some money, you'll always make money, life is priceless.

Answer 6

are you the skipper? and did you land on gilligans island!

Answer 7

you have the right to life and he is voilating that right

Answer 8

you were responsible,.....turn the whole thing over to your insurance company,.....if you have no insurance,.....you are S.O.L.,.....