Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/95463/langnes-vs-green
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:45:46+00:00

Document:
1. In a proceeding by a ship owner to limit liability under R.S. §§ 4283-4285, as against a claim of damages for personal injury, the question whether the injury was occasioned with his privity and knowledge is not jurisdictional, but appertains to the merits of his petition. P. 282 U. S. 534 .
2. Upon renew of a decree of the circuit court of appeals in an admiralty case, a respondent in certiorari, though he did not cross-petition for the writ, may seek to sustain the decree upon a ground which the court below rejected, as well as upon that which it accepted. P. 282 U. S. 535 .
(1) That the state court had jurisdiction of the action, under Jud.Code, § 24(3) and, in the exercise of its common law powers therein, was competent to entertain a claim of the ship owner for limitation of liability and afford him appropriate relief under the federal statute dealing with that subject. P. 282 U. S. 539 .
(2) The district court also had jurisdiction of the petition before it, but to be exercised in accordance with a sound discretion with regard to what was right and equitable. P. 282 U. S. 540 .
(3) Sound discretion required that the district court permit the action in the state court to proceed, so that the claimant's right to a common law remedy might not be destroyed, retaining, however, the petition for limited liability to be dealt with if the petitioner's right to such limitation were brought in question in the state court, or if the case otherwise assumed such form in that court as to bring it within the exclusive power of a court of admiralty. P. 282 U. S. 541 .
(4) In restraining the state court action and in adjudicating for itself the question of liability, the district court committed an abuse of discretion reviewable by the circuit court of appeals and by this Court. P. 282 U. S. 541 .
Certiorari, 281 U.S. 708, to review a decree which reversed a decree of the district court, 32 F.2d 284, in a proceeding in admiralty to limit liability. The district court adjudicated the claim against the petitioning shipowner upon the merits and in his favor. The court below directed that the petition be reversed for want of jurisdiction.
parties that the vessel was of no greater value than the sum of $5,000. After setting forth that petitioner was the sole owner of the vessel, and that the vessel was seaworthy in all respects, the petition alleged, among other things, that the respondent on October 11, 1927, had commenced an action in a superior court of the State of Washington against petitioner to recover damages in the sum of $25,000 for personal injuries suffered while employed upon said vessel. The petition for a limitation of liability was filed four months later while that action was pending, and, it is said and not denied, within two days before the date set for the trial in the state court. Following the filing of the petition, the federal district court issued an order restraining further proceedings in the state court, and a monition to all claimants to present their claims within a time fixed. The respondent, in response to the monition, filed his claim in the amount of $25,000 for damages resulting from the personal injuries referred to above. No other claim was filed.
claimant and one owner, and that petitioner therefore might claim and obtain the advantage and benefit of the limitation of liability statute by proper pleading in the action pending in the state court. This motion the district court denied, and the cause in respect of respondent's claim was tried. Upon the hearing, the district court determined that it should first inquire whether there was any liability, and, if there was, then whether it should be limited; and, at the conclusion of respondent's evidence, without taking evidence on the part of petitioner, the court held that there was no liability, and entered a decree accordingly. 32 F.2d 284. Respondent appealed to the circuit court of appeals, and that court reversed the decree and remanded the case to the district court with directions to dismiss it for want of jurisdiction. 35 F.2d 447.
In the court of appeals, the decree was assailed upon the grounds (1) that, there being but one possible claim and one owner, the shipowner should have sought his remedy for a limitation of liability by proper pleading in the state court, and (2) that the record disclosed the privity and knowledge of the owner in respect of the matters and things by which the injury to respondent resulted. The court rejected the first contention upon the authority of White v. Island Transportation Co., 233 U. S. 346 , but sustained the second, holding that the pleadings and evidence disclosed that the injury complained of was occasioned with the privity and knowledge of the shipowner, and consequently the district court was without jurisdiction.
"Jurisdiction is the power to decide a justiciable controversy, and includes questions of law, as well as of fact. A complaint setting forth a substantial claim under a federal statute presents a case within the jurisdiction of the court as a federal court, and this jurisdiction cannot be made to stand or fall upon the way the court may chance to decide an issue as to the legal sufficiency of the facts alleged, any more than upon the way it may decide as to the legal sufficiency of the facts proven. Its decision either way upon either question is predicated upon the existence of jurisdiction, not upon the absence of it. Jurisdiction, as distinguished from merits, is wanting only where the claim set forth in the complaint is so unsubstantial as to the frivolous, or, in other words, is plainly without color of merit. [Citing cases.] In that event, the claim of federal right under the statute is a mere pretense, and, in effect, is no claim at all."
But we deem it unnecessary to consider the second contention further, since the conclusion to which we have come rests upon the first contention, in respect of which, for reasons presently to be stated, we are of opinion both courts below were in error.
The preliminary objection is urged by petitioner that, since the decision below upon this point was against respondent, and he has not applied for certiorari, the point is not open here for consideration; but the objection is without merit, as a brief review of the decisions of this Court will disclose.
"We do not think that the fact that the claimants did not appeal from the decree of the district court alters the rule. When the libelants appealed, they did so in view of the rule, and took the risk of the result of a trial of the case de novo. The whole case was opened by their appeal, as much as it would have been if both parties had appealed or if the appeal had been taken only by the claimants."
"On appeal in admiralty, there is a trial de novo. The whole case was opened in the circuit court of appeals by the appeal of the Southern Pacific Company, as much as it would have been if the Director General had also appealed."
"This Court, in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction, has power not only to correct error in the judgment entered below, but to make such disposition of the case as justice may at this time require,"
and "the rule is the more insistent because, in admiralty, cases are tried de novo on appeal." See also Dorchy v. Kansas, 264 U. S. 286 , 264 U. S. 289 .
"Objections to the decree below were offered by counsel for respondents in their briefs and arguments here. But no application for certiorari was made in their behalf, and we confine our consideration to errors assigned by the petitioner."
"And, as respondents did not apply for certiorari, we shall confine our consideration of the case to the examination of errors assigned by petitioner."
"A party who has not sought review by appeal or writ of error will not be heard in an appellate court to question the correctness of the decree of the lower court. This is so well settled that citation is not necessary. The respondents are not entitled as of right to have that part of the decree reviewed. [Citing cases.] And, assuming power, we are not moved by any persuasive consideration to examine the parts of the Commission's order to which respondents object."
dealt with below. But it is likewise settled that the appellee may, without taking a cross-appeal, urge in support of a decree any matter appearing in the record, although his argument may involve an attack upon the reasoning of the lower court or an insistence upon matter overlooked or ignored by it. By the claims now in question, the American does not attack, in any respect, the decree entered below. It merely asserts additional grounds why the decree should be affirmed."
And, obviously, the right or duty of this Court to consider these additional grounds will neither be affected by their rejection in the court below nor be made to depend upon the effect finally given to them here.
gave petitioner the right to seek a limitation of liability in the federal district court. Needless to say that, if the case for a limitation of liability assumes such a form that only a federal court is competent to afford relief, the jurisdiction of that court is exclusive, and must be exerted to dispose of the entire cause, and the action in the state court may not be further prosecuted.
"In a state court, when there is only one possible claimant and one owner, the advantage of this section [§ 4283] may be obtained by proper pleading. The Lotta, 150 F. 219, 222; Delaware River Ferry Co. v. Amos, 179 F. 756."
Carlisle Packing Co. v. Sandanger, 259 U. S. 255 , 259 U. S. 260 . See also American Steamboat Co. v. Chase, 16 Wall. 522, 83 U. S. 532 -533.
this, however, the ship owner was free to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal district court ( White v. Island Transportation Co., supra ), and, that having been done, the question which arose was not one of jurisdiction, but, as will later more fully appear, was whether as a matter of discretion that jurisdiction should be exercised to dispose of the cause. shipowner was free to invoke the jurisdiction of a hard and fast rule. The Styria v. Morgan, 186 U. S. 1 , 186 U. S. 9 . When invoked as a guide to judicial action, it means a sound discretion -- that is to say, a discretion exercised not arbitrarily or willfully, but with regard to what is right and equitable under the circumstances and the law, and directed by the reason and conscience of the judge to a just result.
appreciation of the state court's entire lack of admiralty jurisdiction) the unlikely event that the right of petitioner to a limited liability might be brought into question in the state court, or the case otherwise assume such form in that court as to bring it within the exclusive power of a court of admiralty. The failure to do this, in our opinion, constituted an abuse of discretion subject to the correcting power of the appellate court below, and of this Court.
"The owner of the vessel therefore can by answer in the state court set up as a defense that he is not liable beyond the value of the vessel, and that value may be determined as appropriately and as easily in that court as in this. In the ex parte proceedings here, the vessel has been appraised by appraisers chosen by the petitioner, and, while there may be no reason to question the fairness and fullness of such appraisement, the plaintiff is entitled to be heard on that question, and, in the usual course of the common law proceeding, that issue can be fairly tried."
"All that the petitioner can fairly claim is that he should not be subject to a personal judgment for an indefinite amount and beyond the value of his interest in the Lotta and her freight. There is no reason to doubt that this proper defense may be availed of in the state court, and, if there is an ulterior purpose, and petitioner's object in invoking the jurisdiction of this Court is to escape a jury trial and take the case away from the common law jurisdiction, that purpose should receive no countenance here, for the act which gives this Court its admiralty and maritime jurisdiction saves to suitors in all cases the right of the common law remedy where the common law is competent to give it, and good faith requires that this proviso shall have its full and fair effect."
there are, first, whether the defendant is liable at all, and, if so, as to the value of the vessel and her freight, which is the limit of defendant's liability."
See also Delaware River Ferry Co. v. Amos, 179 F. 756.
"the question is one of discretion in every case, and the court will not take cognizance of the case if justice would be as well done by remitting the parties to their home forum."
The Maggie Hammond, 9 Wall. 435, 76 U. S. 457 ; The Belgenland, 114 U. S. 355 , 114 U. S. 368 ; Charter Shipping Co. v. Bowring, Jones & Tidy, 281 U. S. 515 , 281 U. S. 517 . See also generally, Watts, Watts & Co. v. Unione Austriaca, etc., supra, and compare the opinion of the district court upon the point in the same case, 224 F. 188, 191. So, while the courts of this country have and may entertain jurisdiction of actions between nonresident foreigners for torts committed in a foreign country, they will exercise such jurisdiction in their discretion and only in special cases. Dewitt v. Buchanan, 54 Barb. 31, 34. And see also National Telephone Mfg. Co. v. Du Bois; Harris v. Pullman, 84 Ill. 20, 27.
The decrees of both courts below must be reversed and the cause remanded to the district court for further proceedings in conformity with this opinion.
"Sec. 4283. The liability of the owner of any vessel, for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction, by any person, of any property, goods, or merchandise, shipped or put on board of such vessel, or for any loss, damage, or injury by collision, or 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."
"Sec. 4284. Whenever any such embezzlement, loss, or destruction is suffered by several freighters or owners of goods, wares, merchandise, or any property whatever, on the same voyage, and the whole value of the vessel, and her freight for the voyage, is not sufficient to make compensation to each of them, they shall receive compensation from the owner of the vessel in proportion to their respective losses, and for that purpose the freighters and owners of the property, and the owner of the vessel, or any of them, may take the appropriate proceedings in any court, for the purpose of apportioning the sum for which the owner of the vessel may be liable among the parties entitled thereto."
"Sec. 4285. It shall be deemed a sufficient compliance on the part of such owner with the requirements of this title relating to his liability for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction of any property, goods, or merchandise, if he shall transfer his interest in such vessel and freight, for the benefit of such claimants, to a trustee, to be appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction, to act as such trustee for the person who may prove to be legally entitled thereto; from and after which transfer all claims and proceedings against the owner shall cease."

References: § 24
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.