Case Brief of Negligence and the Titanic

¶ … HANS PEDER JENSEN, by Executor of the Estate Carla Christine Jensen Plaintiff,

THE WHITE STAR LINE, Defendant.

The law suit was brought by Carla Christine Jensen, fiancee of Hans Peder Jensen and executor of his estate (as expressed in Mr. Jensen's will). Ms. Jensen, though not yet wife of Mr. Jensen, was entitled to bring about the law suit as the sole executor of Mr. Jensen's estate. Both Mr. And Ms. Jensen were traveling on the Titanic, when the ship hit an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland on April 14, 1912 at 11:40 PM and sank a few hours later at 2:20 AM. Most of the story in the "mock" trial is true. Mr. Jensen did indeed lose his life in the shipwreck and his fiancee was indeed saved later on by the arrival of the Carpathia.

Ms. Jensen, as Mr. Jensen's executor, has sought compensation on Mr. Jensen's behalf, for four different things: Mr. Jensen's death, Mr. Jensen's pain and physical sufferance prior to his death, emotional distress and anguish and the financial losses of wages he could have obtained as a carpenter. According to the plaintiff, White Star, the company operating the Titanic, was negligent due to three of its actions: a careless operation of the ship, its failure to heed warnings and its crash into the iceberg. Following the definition of negligence as presented in the trial, the most important thing for the plaintiff was to prove that White Star had a duty towards its passengers and that it breached that duty, causing an injury and loss.

According to the plaintiff, White Star "owed a duty of reasonable care to a plaintiff" to the class he belonged to (passengers on the Titanic). They had paid their ticket, thus fulfilling their part of the obligation. White Star's obligation, on the other hand, was to provide them with food and a room and, most importantly of all, with a safe trip to New York. Following the accident, one may conclude that White Star failed to fulfill its last obligation, that of safety.

White Star failed to conform to the required standard of care. Objectively speaking, this can be proved by the fact that the crew (employed by White Star), even if they disposed of the latest technology in what radio communication was concerned and even if they operated on the most modern ship in the world, they hit an iceberg in a night when there were no special climatic conditions. It is obvious that this breach of duty caused irreparable harm to the passengers, causing 1,522 deaths. In this sense, punitive damages are sought by Ms. Jensen on behalf of Mr. Jensen.

White Star used in its defense the fact that several acts committed either by Mr. Jensen or by other passengers, superseded negligence on part of White Star. The defendant's case is thus built on the assertion that the passengers and Mr. Jensen had not followed the crew's instruction and were thus responsible for their own deaths.