The facts of Carroll Towing are surprisingly complicated. In total there were 4 different corporate defendants, plus the federal government. While the docks of lower Manhattan are today relatively quiet, at the time of this case, which was 5 months before the Allies invaded Europe on D-Day, they were crowded and congested beyond limits, with boatloads of material waiting to be shipped and ships waiting to be transported across the ocean. Barges were attached to other barges in a “string” because there was no available space on the piers. In order to remove (or “drill out”) one of the 5 barges that had been attached to the Anna C. the ropes that had held her to the pier had to be reattached by the crew of The Carroll. It was during this process that the Anna C and her string of barges broke loose and collided with a ship, puncturing the Anna C and eventually causing her sinking. Tugboats were around that could have pumped water from the Anna C and prevented her from sinking, but no one was aboard her to alert them of the need for help.

And where was the captain of the Anna C (the “bargee”)? He originally testified that he was on board at all time, and only ‘fessed up to being AWOL when crew members from The Carroll testified that no one was aboard. His absence made the issue of negligence more difficult. If he had been onboard and simply failed to do anything to save the Anna C, he was surely negligent. His absence, however, created the issue that is at the heart of this case…Was the failure to have a bargee on board contributory negligence on the part of the owners of the Anna C?

Adapted from Gilles, Torts Stories, Foundation Press, 2003