In re Polemis

Polemis chartered his ship to the defendants for shipping gasoline, some of which leaked into the ship's hold during the voyage. While unloading, one of the defendants' employees negligently knocked a plank into the hold; the plank's impact created a spark, igniting the leaked gasoline and destroying the ship in the resulting explosion and fire. A panel of arbitrators found the defendants' negligence caused the accident and held some damage was foreseeable even though the explosion itself was not, and the trial judge upheld the resulting damages award; the defendants appealed.