Task: songer_typeiss

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to determine the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court. Choose among the following categories. Criminal and prisioner petitions- includes appeals of conviction, petitions for post conviction relief, habeas corpus petitions, and other prisoner petitions which challenge the validity of the conviction or the sentence or the validity of continued confinement. Civil - Government - these will include appeals from administrative agencies (e.g., OSHA,FDA), the decisions of administrative law judges, or the decisions of independent regulatory agencies (e.g., NLRB, FCC,SEC). The focus in administrative law is usually on procedural principles that apply to administrative agencies as they affect private interests, primarily through rulemaking and adjudication. Tort actions against the government, including petitions by prisoners which challenge the conditions of their confinement or which seek damages for torts committed by prion officials or by police fit in this category. In addition, this category will include suits over taxes and claims for benefits from government. Diversity of Citizenship - civil cases involving disputes between citizens of different states (remember that businesses have state citizenship). These cases will always involve the application of state or local law. If the case is centrally concerned with the application or interpretation of federal law then it is not a diversity case. Civil Disputes - Private - includes all civil cases that do not fit in any of the above categories. The opposing litigants will be individuals, businesses or groups.

PER CURIAM:
The appellants, Treakle and others, a group of tugboat pilots employed by Coal Terminal Towing Corporation and its predecessors, filed a libel against Pocahontas Steamship Company, in per-sonam, and the steamship “CONSOLIDATION COAL” in rem. Subsequently appellants filed a similar libel against Marine Coal Transport Corporation, in personam, and the steamship “MARINE ELECTRIC” in rem. Exceptions and/or exceptive allegations were seasonably filed by the vessel owners and testimony was taken in support of the exceptions. The two cases were consolidated for trial and upon appeal.
The sole question for determination is whether these tugboat pilots are entitled, in the circumstances, to claim compensation from the owners of oceangoing vessels which were docked or undocked by the tugboats and their pilots at Coal Piers and to assert a lien against such vessels for specialized services as “docking” pilots in addition to their compensation fixed by a contract negotiated by and between their employers and their union bargaining representative. The district court sustained the exceptive allegations and held that the tugboat pilots, by their course of dealing over a protracted period, and by their contractual arrangements are effectively estopped from asserting a claim for services as docking pilots against the owners of the docked vessels or a lien for such services against the vessels themselves.
We have carefully examined the record and conclude that the consolidated cases were correctly decided for the reasons stated by the district court in its memorandum opinion.
Affirmed.
. Pursuant to the terms of their negotiated employment contract the tugboat pilots, in addition to their hourly wage rate, received $8.50 per day “to cover the service of docking and undocking ships” at Coal Piers when so assigned. Similarly the mates of tugboats assigned to docking and undocking ships at Coal Piers received $2.87 for each day so assigned, in addition to their hourly wage rate.
. Treakle v. Pocahontas Steamship Company, 278 F.Supp. 608 (E.D.Va.1967).

Question: What is the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court?
A. criminal and prisoner petitions
B. civil - government
C. diversity of citizenship
D. civil - private
E. other, not applicable
F. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: D