New York Central Railroad Co. v. Grimstad
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
264 F. 334 (2d Cir. 1920)
Angell Grimstad, captain of a barge owned by New York Central Railroad (defendant), was knocked overboard when a tugboat struck the barge while docking at Erie Basin, Brooklyn, and drowned because he could not swim. His wife (plaintiff, named Elfrieda in one court's record) saw him struggling in the water and ran to the cabin for a rope, but by the time she returned he had disappeared. She sued the railroad for negligently failing to equip the barge with life preservers, and a jury found the railroad negligent; the trial court denied the railroad's motion to dismiss, and the railroad appealed.
Whether a defendant's failure to provide safety equipment is the cause in fact of a plaintiff's drowning when there is no evidence that the equipment, if present, would actually have prevented the death.