116 F. Supp. 560 | E.D. La. | 1953
It having already been decided that the S. S. Ionian Explorer and the Tug Lisa R were mutually at fault in the collision in question,
In an effort to clarify the ambiguous and conflicting provisions of the contracts, parol evidence was admitted. Unfortunately, this parol evidence is as ambiguous and conflicting as the provisions of the contracts themselves. Consequently, neither the contracts nor the parol evidence establishes what the intent of the parties actually was with reference to the benefit of insurance.
The effect of the tug owners’ interpretation of the insurance clauses of the contracts would be to relieve the tug from liability for its own negligence. As this court has had occasion recently to hold
Applying that test here, there can be no doubt that, in the circumstances of this case, the contracts in question do not make the insurance on the hull and cargo of the barges GPC and Super-test No. 2 available to the owners of the Tug Lisa R.
Decree accordingly.
. Compania de Navegacion Cristobal v. The Lisa R., D.C., 112 F.Supp. 501.
. Bisso v. Inland Waterways Corporation, D.C., 114 F.Supp. 713.