Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/273/207/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 15:18:02+00:00

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Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 273 › Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. v. So. Pac. Co.
3 F 2d 923 affirmed.
Certiorari (267 U.S. 590) to a decree of the Circuit Court of Appeals which affirmed a decree of the district court requiring a stipulator for value in a limitation of liability proceeding to pay into court the value of its principal's vessel and pending freight.
It is surprising that no case has ever arisen in which the question here mooted has been directly decided, though the effect of a decision refusing limitation has been the subject of discussion in The Titanic, 204 F 295, and in The Virginia, 266 F. 437, 439. See also Dowdell v. U.S. District Court, 139 F. 444; In re Jeremiah Smith & Sons, 193 F. 395; The Santa Rosa, 249 F. 160.
Revised Statutes, §§ 4282 to 4287, are shown in a series of cases in this Court, the chief of which is Norwich Co. v. Wright, 13 Wall. 104. Further consideration to this subject was given by the Court in The Benefactor, 103 U. S. 239; in Providence & New York Steamship Co. v. Hill Manufacturing Co., 109 U. S. 578; in The City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, 118 U. S. 503; in The Scotland, 118 U. S. 507; in Butler v. Boston & Savannah Steamship Co., 130 U. S. 527, and in In Re Morrison, 147 U. S. 14, 147 U. S. 34; in The Albert Dumois, 177 U. S. 240; in The Hamilton, 207 U. S. 398, and in La Bourgogne, 210 U. S. 95.
goods on board; second, damages by collision to other vessels and their cargoes; and, third, any other damage or forfeiture done or incurred; that all others having similar claims against the vessel and the owner may be brought into concourse in the proceeding by monition and enjoined from suing the owner and vessel on such claims in any other court; that the proceeding is equitable in its nature, and is to be likened to a bill to enjoin multiplicity of suits, Providence Steamship Co. v. Hill Manufacturing Co., 109 U. S. 578; that, by stipulation after appraisement, the vessel and freight may be released, and the stipulation be substituted therefor; that, on reference to a commissioner and the coming in of his report, it shall be determined first, whether the owner and his vessel are liable at all; second, whether the owner may avoid all liability except that of the vessel and pending freight; third, what the amount of the just claims are; and, fourth, how the fund in court should be divided between the claimants. The cases show that the court may enter judgment in personam against the owner, as well as judgment in rem against the res, or the substituted fund, City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, 118 U. S. 503; that the fund is to be distributed to all established claims to share in the fund to which admiralty does not deny existence, whether they be liens in admiralty or not, The Hamilton, 207 U. S. 398, 207 U. S. 406, and that they may include damages from a collision, from personal injuries, Butler v. Boston Steamship Co., 130 U. S. 527, or for wrongful death if arising under a law of Congress, a state of the Union, or a foreign state, which is applicable to the owner and the vessel, The Bourgogne, 210 U. S. 95, 210 U. S. 138.
it, and that all the ease with which rights can be adjusted in equity is intended to be given to the proceeding. It is the administration of equity in an admiralty court. Dowdell v. United States District Court, 139 F. 444, 445. The proceeding partakes in a way of the features of a bill to enjoin the multiplicity of suits, a bill in the nature of an interpleader, and a creditor's bill. It looks to a complete and just disposition of a many-cornered controversy, and is applicable to proceedings in rem against the ship, as well as to proceedings in personam against the owner, the limitation extending to the owner's property as well as to his person. The City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, 118 U. S. 503.
which might be conferred by a court of law. Pomeroy's Equity Jurisdiction (4th ed.) §§ 181 and 231; United States v. Union Pacific Railway Company, 160 U. S. 1, 160 U. S. 52. See also Equity Rule 10, amended May 4, 1925, 268 U.S. 709, appendix. Of course, this equitable rule enlarging the chancellor's jurisdiction, in order completely to dispose of the cause before him, does not usually apply in an admiralty suit. Grant v. Poillon, 20 How. 162; Turner v. Beacham, Taney's Reports 583, Fed.Cas. No. 14,252; The Pennsylvania, 154 F. 9; The Ada, 250 F.194. But this limitation of liability proceeding differs from the ordinary admiralty suit in that, by reason of the statute and rules, the court of admiralty has power (Providence Steamship Co. v. Hill Manufacturing Co., 109 U. S. 578) to do what is exceptional in a court of admiralty -- to grant an injunction, and by such injunction bring litigants who do not have claims which are strictly admiralty claims into the admiralty court (Benedict on Admiralty, 5th ed., § 70, note 97). There necessarily inheres, therefore, in the character of the limitation of liability proceeding in reference to such nonadmiralty claims the jurisdiction to fulfill the obligation to do equitable justice to such claimants by furnishing them a complete remedy.

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