INJURED ON SHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 2, 3 July 1939, Page 10

INJURED ON SHIP

COMPANY'S DEFENCE

TICKET PROVISIONS

CASE MAY GO TO THE LORDS

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London Representative.) LONDON, June 1. An award of £6000 damages to a passenger on a cruise liner, who slipped and broke his right leg and became permanently crippled, was quashed by the Court of Appeal. Leave was given to appeal to the House of Lords. Mr. R. A. B. Thomas, of Little Bushey Lane, Bushey Heath, Herts, went for a cruise with his wife in May, 1937, in the liner Arandora Star. Two hours after the cruise began he slipped in an alleyway that was being washed by a steward. He was going to his stateroom to dress for dinner. In an action against th« Blue Star Line, Ltd., he alleged that the floor was rendered slippery by the washing and constituted a "trap" of which warning should have been given. The company pleaded that it was i protected by the conditions on Mr.! Thomas's ticket, which stated that iti would not be liable for negligence in the management of the ship. It also denied negligence. The jury awarded Mr. Thomas £6000 damages. In a considered judgment concerning the ticket conditions Lord Hewart, the Lord Chief Justice, held that the conditions afforded the company no such protection as it claimed. Lord Justice Scott said that one condition of the ticket stated: "Passengers take upon themselves all risk whatsoever of the passage to themselves." The Lord Chief Justice had read into the word "passage" a meaning that would limit it to marine risks and con- | eluded that the washing of alleyways ' was outside its ambit. He could not share that view. The clause seemed to him to tell the passenger that he must travel at his own risk. In other words, he must insure himself. I The appeal would be allowed, the verdict and judgment set aside, and ! judgment entered for the Blue Star (Line with costs. ! Lords Justices Clauson and Goddard !agreed.