The Folmina

Background

A steamship carrying a large shipment of rice from Kobe, Japan, to New York delivered a portion of the cargo damaged by water and heat in one hold. The ship was a high-class steel vessel that had recently been surveyed and repaired. Inspections after discharge found the hull, decks, and rivets intact and no obvious leaks or defects. There was no evidence of negligence by the crew, and the cargo had been stowed and ventilated properly. The ship’s bill of lading contained an exception for losses caused by the "dangers and accidents of the seas."

Reasoning

The Court faced the practical question whether unexplained seawater damage, without proof of crew fault or a ship defect, counts as a "sea peril" that frees the carrier from liability. Drawing on long-settled law that carriers are generally responsible for cargo unless a clearly proven exception applies, the Court said the carrier bears the burden of proving that the loss was caused by an excepted sea peril. Because the evidence showed seawater damage but did not explain how the water entered, the Court refused to treat the damage as necessarily caused by a sea peril. Doubt about the efficient cause must be resolved against the carrier.

Real world impact

The decision protects shippers whose goods are delivered damaged by unexplained seawater: carriers cannot rely on broad sea-peril exceptions unless they prove how the water got in. This ruling emphasizes that carriers and their insurers must produce concrete proof of an excepted peril before escaping liability.