Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/294/23/case.html
Timestamp: 2017-05-23 22:41:25
Document Index: 619360621

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4529', '§ 1', '§ 741', '§ 4583', '§ 2', '§ 673', '§ 4529', '§ 3', '§ 4529']

McCrea v. United States (full text) :: 294 U.S. 23 (1935) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
› McCrea v. United States
McCrea v. United States 294 U.S. 23 (1935)
U.S. Supreme CourtMcCrea v. United States, 294 U.S. 23 (1935)McCrea v. United StatesNo. 249Argued December 14, 1934Decided January 7, 1935294 U.S. 23CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
3. Upon the demand of a seaman for his discharge, payment of wages due, a month's additional pay, and employment on another vessel homeward bound, the master of a vessel, busily engaged about his duties on arrival in a foreign port and ignorant of the legal basis Page 294 U. S. 24 for the demand, requested the seaman to meet him at the consular office shortly after noon of the following day; the seaman called early, was advised by the consul that he was not entitled to his discharge, and failed to keep the appointment with the master; he left the vessel later without having communicated with the master, and gave no forwarding address. Held, the failure of the master to make payment of wages as provided by R.S., § 4529 was not "without sufficient cause." P. 294 U. S. 28.
This is a suit under the Suits in Admiralty Act of March 9, 1920, c. 95, 41 Stat. 525, §§ 1, 2, and 6, 46 U.S.C. §§ 741, 742, 746, against the United States as owner and operator of the steamship American Shipper, brought in the District Court for Southern New York by petitioner, a seaman, to recover for loss of his clothing, for wages, and for Page 294 U. S. 25 one month's additional wages and other relief provided by R.S. § 4583 because of the failure of respondent to divide the firemen and other employees of the vessel into three equal watches, as required by § 2 of the Seamen's Act of March 4, 1915, c. 153, 38 Stat. 1164, 46 U.S.C. § 673. He also demanded, under R.S. § 4529, as amended by § 3 of the Seamen's Act, double wages, aggregating about $7,000, for failure to pay wages earned in 1928.
We find it unnecessary to decide the questions raised with respect to the liability of the government for double wages. For, upon examination of the record, it is apparent that petitioner has failed to establish his right to the Page 294 U. S. 26 double wages demanded, regardless of the asserted immunity of the government.
Petitioner went to the consulate the next forenoon and left about 11:30, after stating his complaint and being informed by the consul that he was not entitled to his discharge. He requested that the decision be placed in writing; this was done and sent to him in care of the vessel. The master, who had been busy preparing his papers for entry at the customs house, arrived at the consulate about 2 o'clock of the same day, and was told that the petitioner had been there and had gone. He then returned to the vessel, where he remained most of the time it was in port, but did not see petitioner again. Petitioner testified that he returned to the vessel, knocked at the master's door that night, and again the next morning, but received no answer at either time. He then asked Page 294 U. S. 27 the chief mate if the master was aboard, and the mate said that he did not know. On that day, he left the vessel without making any further attempt to see the master or leaving any information which would enable the officers to communicate with him. When he asked the mate for a pass for his clothes, he was told that the mate could not give him one, and he was not allowed to take his clothes with him. He did not intend to return to the vessel when he left, and never did return. After some weeks in England, he purchased passage on another vessel and returned to the United States.
"Whenever, on the discharge of a seaman in a foreign country by a consular officer on his complaint that the voyage is continued contrary to agreement, or that the vessel is . . . unseaworthy, . . . it shall be the duty of the consul or consular agent to institute a proper inquiry into the matter, and, upon his being satisfied of the truth and justice of such complaint, he shall require the master to pay to such seaman one month's wages over and above the wages due at the time of discharge, and to provide him with adequate employment on board some other vessel, or provide him with a passage on board Page 294 U. S. 28 some other vessel bound to the port from which he was originally shipped. . . ."
2. The seaman's right to double wages for failure of the master to pay wages due is conferred by R.S. § 4529, as amended. * Page 294 U. S. 29 By this section, the master or owner of a vessel is required to pay a seaman his wages within a specified time after the termination of the agreement under which he was shipped or after the time of his discharge, whichever first happens. In the case of vessels making foreign voyages, payment is required within twenty-four hours after the cargo has been discharged or within four days after the seaman has been discharged, whichever first happens. In all cases, the seaman is entitled at the time of his discharge to one-third of the balance of wages due him. It directs that "every master or owner who refuses or neglects to make payment in the manner" specified
Since it does not appear in the present case when the cargo was discharged, the time within which the master could pay the wages due and thus avoid liability for double wages cannot be taken to be less than four days from the time of arrival. There is no question of failure to pay one-third of the wages due, since petitioner did not avail himself of the master's offer to pay him one-half of his wages. As it has been determined that the petitioner was entitled to his discharge and to payment of the wages due, and as payment was not made within the time specified by the statute, we may assume, for present purposes, that he was entitled to the double pay demanded if the master's failure to pay the wages due was "without sufficient cause." Page 294 U. S. 30
The statute thus confers no right to recover double wages where the delay in payment of wages due was not in some sense arbitrary, willful, or unreasonable. In view of the many duties imposed, some by law, on the master of a vessel upon arrival in a foreign port, we cannot say that the statute compels him, on pain of subjecting himself or his owner to heavy loss, to make immediate decision of questions of law involved in a seaman's demands, Page 294 U. S. 31 of whose nature he is left in ignorance. In the circumstances, he did not unreasonably defer action by fixing the following day and the consul's office as the time and place for his decision. The failure of petitioner to keep the appointment and to communicate with the master again, after rejection by the consul of petitioner's demand, left the master uninformed whether or not petitioner still persisted in his demand. His departure from the vessel on the following day, without leaving an address, precluded payment of the wages due within the four days which the statute allowed. The case is not one of neglect to pay wages without sufficient cause.
In its opinion before reargument, the District Court, notwithstanding its conclusion that the master had sufficient cause for his failure to pay wages, ruled that the petitioner was entitled to recover double pay for the number of days which had intervened after the suit was brought. Petitioner argues here that, as there was no excuse for delay in payment after the suit was brought, the duty to pay double wages accrued from that date. But the liability is conditioned by the statute upon the refusal or neglect to pay wages "in the manner hereinbefore mentioned without sufficient cause." The quoted phrase refers to the specified periods within which the seaman's wages are directed to be paid, and the section thus imposes the liability for neglect, without sufficient cause, to pay the wages within the prescribed period. Petitioner seeks, by a more liberal interpretation of the words, to impose the liability for such delay in payment, without sufficient cause, as may occur at any time after an excusable failure to pay within the prescribed period. This possibility is precluded by the further provision of the section that double wages shall be paid for each day "during which payment is delayed beyond the respective periods" within which the payment is to be made. Thus, liability for double Page 294 U. S. 32 wages accrues, if at all, from the end of the period within which payment should have been made. It must be determined by the happening of an event within the period, failure to pay wages without sufficient cause. The statute affords a definite and reasonable procedure by which the seaman may establish his right to recover double pay where his wages are unreasonably withheld. But it affords no basis for recovery if, by his own conduct, he precludes compliance with it by the master or owner. He cannot afterward impose the liability by the mere expedient of bringing suit upon it.