Harrison v. Hughes

Citations

• 110 F. 545
• 1901 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146

Syllabus

<p>1. Government Contractor — Negligence—Liability to Third Party.</p> <p>A contract between the United States and contractors for tlie erection of a breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware Bay, which provides for the erection of a stake-light on the work in accordance with the instructions of the United States engineer in charge, or his agent, and its maintenance by the contractors, does not relieve the latter from liability-to third persons whose property Is damaged or destroyed by reason of the extinguishment of the light during a storm or high wind, where the contractors had knowledge of its liability so to be extinguished, and in the absence of any provision or implication to be drawn from the contract that, when necessary for the protection of navigation, the contractors should not place on the work in course of construction other lights than those mentioned in the contract or prescribed by the government officers in charge.</p> <p>& Same.</p> <p>The measure of *the contractual obligation of the contractors to the government did not necessarily limit or define the precise measure of their duty to third persons whose lives and property would be exposed to extreme peril in ease of failure to indicate at night the new construction by the maintenance of the stake-light or some other light at that point or by other means,</p> <p>a Same — Act of God.</p> <p>The accident to the steamship through running against the new construction cannot be treated as due to the act of God or vis major, as it did not result from purely natural causes impossible by the exercise of reasonable diligence and circumspection to have been perceived and therefore unreasonable to guard against.</p> <p>4. Same — Duties—Lights.</p> <p>Reasonable care and vigilance required the contractors to guard against probable consequences of the extinguishment of the light or its failure to burn at night, and, while owing to the condition of the wind or water it may have been impracticable promptly to r