United States Ninth Circuit

In a personal injury action based on injuries plaintiff suffered while diving from defendant's ship, judgment for defendant is affirmed where the rule from The Pennsylvania, 86 U.S. (1 Wall.) 125 (1873), which puts on the ship owner the burden of proving that its violation of a statute or regulation did not cause the injury, did not apply because there must be a threshold causal connection between the violation and the injury before the Rule will apply.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/12/2009
• Decided 09/10/2009
• Published 09/10/2009

Judges

• Before PROCTER HUG, JR., BETTY B. FLETCHER and MICHAEL DALY HAWKINS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John R. Hillsman, McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky, San Francisco, CA; Howard G. McPherson, Cronin, Fried, Sekiya, Kekina & Fairbanks, Honolulu, HI, for the plaintiff-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Richard C. Wootton and Mitchell S. Griffin, Cox, Wootton, Griffin, Hansen & Poulos, LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the defendant-appellee.