Manhattan by Sail, Inc. v. Tagle

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The Second Circuit vacated the district court's judgment in favor of shipowners in a negligence action filed by plaintiff after a deckhand unclipped a weighted halyard and it struck plaintiff in the head. The court held that plaintiff's evidence satisfied her burden of making a prima facie showing of entitlement to res ipsa loquitur. Moreover, the shipowners failed to rebut her evidence. The court explained that while no doubt things can happen at sea that could cause an extended halyard to slip out of a seaman's grasp without negligence, plaintiff's evidence was sufficient to show that this did not ordinarily happen without negligence. View "Manhattan by Sail, Inc. v. Tagle" on Justia Law