Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/233/346/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 23:57:46+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 233 › White v. Island Transportation Co.
The jurisdiction of a district court in a proceeding in admiralty to limit the liability of a ship owner, under Rev.Stat., §§ 4283 et seq., is not ousted merely because a damage claimant puts in issue the allegation in the petition or libel that the damage was occasioned without the privity or knowledge of the owner. Butler v. Boston Steamship Co., 130 U. S. 527.
In a proceeding in admiralty under Rev.Stat. §§ 4283 et seq., question of fact, whether jurisdictional or otherwise, are to be settled by a trial, and where the petition alleges that the damage or injury, liability for which is sought to be limited, was occasioned without the privity or knowledge of the owner, and the damage claimant waives proof of that allegation, it must be taken as true, and there will be no defect of jurisdiction in that regard.
Under Rev.Stat. §§ 4283 et seq. and Admiralty Rules 53-57, a proceeding to limit the liability of the ship owner may be maintained whether there be a plurality of claims or only one.
The facts, which involve the construction and application of the statutes regarding limitation of liability of vessel owners, are stated in the opinion.
"8th. The respondent further alleges that the facts are such that the petitioner is not entitled to take the benefit of the limited liability acts, and joins issue with the petitioner thereon, and asks that the court determine this question before it proceeds further in the said matter."
The claimant also moved to dismiss the proceeding for want of jurisdiction upon the ground that the pleadings showed that the injury was attributable to negligence of the owner, and that the petition disclosed but one claim, and laid no basis for apprehending the existence of others. The motion to dismiss was overruled, and an exception reserved. The claimant elected to stand upon the motion and refused to move further in the proceeding, whereupon, proof of the allegations of the petition "being waived," a final decree was entered for the owner adjudging that the claimant take nothing by the proceeding. This appeal followed, and a certificate was granted showing the grounds of the motion, the court's ruling, and the exception. See Judicial Code § 238.
"The liability of the owner of any vessel . . . for any act, matter, or thing, loss, damage, or forfeiture, done, occasioned, or incurred, without the privity or knowledge of such owner or owners, shall in no case exceed the amount or value of the interest of such owner in such vessel and her freight then pending."
And, while the claimant was at liberty under Admiralty Rule 56 to contest the owner's right to a limitation of liability, the decision of the question necessarily rested with the court. Its jurisdiction was not ousted merely because the claimant took issue with what was alleged in the petition. Butler v. Boston Steamship Co., 130 U. S. 527, 130 U. S. 552-553. The questions of fact so presented were to be settled by a trial, and this was so whether the facts were jurisdictional or otherwise. But there was no trial. Instead of insisting that the allegations of the petition be proved, the claimant expressly waived proof of them, thereby consenting that they be taken as true. As they were plainly to the effect that the injury was without the privity or knowledge of the owner, there was no defect in the jurisdiction at that point.
"These sections [4284 and 4285], if we look only to the letter, apply only to injuries and losses of property. The question is therefore whether we shall by construction bring the three sections into correspondence by confining the scope of § 4283 to injuries and losses of property, or by enlarging the scope of the two other sections so as to include injuries to the person. We think it is more reasonable to suppose that the designation of losses and in juries in §§ 4284 and 4285 is imperfect, a part being mentioned representatively for the whole, and consequently that those sections were intended to extend to injuries to the person as well as to injuries to property, than it is to suppose that § 4283 was intended to extend only to the latter class of injuries, and was inadvertently couched in words of broader meaning."
99 F. 302, 304; The Hoffmans, 171 F. 455, 457; Benedict's Admiralty, 4th ed. § 533. In the recent case of Richardson v. Harmon, 222 U. S. 96, where there was but a single claim, it was assumed by both court and counsel that a plurality of claims was not essential. We think that is the true view of the statute.

References: v. 
 v. 
 § 238
 v. 
 § 4283
 § 4283
 § 533
 v.