Rulings
After many months of investigation and litigation, United States District Court, the Western District of Wisconsin Judge C. Z. Luce ruled that both masters were guilty of failing to follow the “Rules of the Road” regulations that if there is doubt about the course or intention of the other, the pilot is required give the danger signal and slow to a speed barely sufficient for passageway and/or stop and reverse course. After more haggling by underwriters and proctors, the Superior City was valued at $300,000 and her tonnage was valued at $42,922.95. The King’s damage was $42,520. The loss-of-life claims were not paid until late in 1923. The lawyers of victim’s estates had little muscle against the legal maneuverings of the admiralty proctors and they settled for $5000 to the families of deckhands and porters, $3,700 for the wife of the second engineer, $11,205 for the second engineer, and $25,000 for the chief engineer.
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