New! H2O now has access to new and up-to-date cases via CourtListener and the Caselaw Access Project. Click here for more info.

Main Content

Casebook Read Credits
Torts - Spring 2016 full version
Resource 23 . 5 . 1 . 1
10 minutes

Ira S. Bushey & Sons, Inc. v. United States

Samantha Bates,
Jonathan Zittrain

While drunk, a member of the United States Coast Guard opened the valves of plaintiff’s drydock, causing parts of it to sink. The seaman was at the drydock because he was returning to his ship to sleep. The operation of the drydock’s valves had nothing to do with his duties as a seaman. Plaintiff sued the United States government for the damage to the drydock. Can employers be liable for their employees’ random acts of drunkenness? Should an employer have broad liability for their employee’s destructive behavior, if it is “foreseeable” that their labor force will cause property damage from time to time? The court wrestles with these questions in this case.

This book, and all H2O books, are Creative Commons licensed for sharing and re-use with the exception of certain excerpts. Any excerpts from the Restatements of the Law, Principles of the Law, and the Model Penal Code are copyright by The American Law Institute. Excerpts are reproduced with permission, not as part of a Creative Commons license.