Court Opinion

ID: 9641839
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:41:28.062554+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:40.212094
License: Public Domain

PARKER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
There can be no question but that a sharesman under a fishing lay is entitled to the usual maritime lien for seamen’s wages upon the ship, as well as upon the catch or cargo. 56 C.J. 1065 and cases cited. The seizure of the vessel resulting in a breaking up of the voyage entitles him to any amount previously earned and to damages due to the discharge. The case is not different from any other case of discharge resulting from seizure of the vessel and consequent breaking up of the voyage, as to which see 56 C.J. 968; The Hudson, 12 Fed.Cas. page 805, No. 6,831; Van Beuren v. Wilson, 9 Cow., N.Y., 158, 18 Am.Dec. 491. In such case, wages accruing after the seizure do not constitute a lien on the vessel, but lien is accorded for wages earned prior thereto and damages resulting from the, discharge. As said by Judge Pardee in The-Esteban de Antunano, C.C., 31 F. 920, 925: “It is probable that the breaking up of the voyage by the seizure of the ship operated, ipso facto, a discharge of the crew (see Woolf v. The Oder [Fed.Cas. No. 18,027], 2 Pet.Adm. 261;), and if the crew thereafter remained aboard, they did it by the consent of the sheriff. In such case they would, no doubt, be entitled to their pay, and damages resulting from discharge, and the same would constitute an admiralty lien, not divested by the seizure and sale of the ship.”
No distinction can properly be drawn, with respect to the right of lien, between claim for wages earned under a contract and claim for damages arising from discharge in violation of its terms. The lien *708for wages covers the entire term of employment contracted for. 56 C.J. 1053; The Wanderer, C.C., 20 F. 655. And certainly the seaman’s rights thereunder may not be defeated without fault on his part. He cannot, of course, be accorded lien for wages accruing subsequent to seizure for the reason that lien may not be created on the vessel' after it has passed out of the control of the owners; but this does not mean that he may not have a lien for the damages resulting from the breach of his contract occasioned by the seizure.* Woolf v. The Oder, 30 Fed.Cas. page 600, No. 18,027. This is to award against the vessel no more than the seaman is entitled to under his contract at the time the seizure is made. The statute awarding one month’s wages as damages in case of wrongful discharge, which has no application to a case such as this, is intended merely to afford seamen a simple and summary method of establishing and enforcing damages. 56 C.J. 1028; The Steel Trader, 275 U.S. 388, 390, 48 S.Ct. 162, 72 L.Ed. 326. But there can be no question that, in cases where the statute does not apply, a maritime lien exists on the vessel for the amount necessary to compensate the seaman for the breach of his contract of employment. The Lakeport, D.C., 15 F.2d 575.
In a case such as that with which we -are dealing, damages resulting from discharge are difficult to estimate, but one month's earnings based on prior experience, the basis adopted by the Judge below, is certainly not unreasonable.
I see no injustice whatever in giving these seamen priority for the damage resulting from their discharge .over bills of repairmen, who, when they permitted the vessel to proceed about her business, must have known that contracts of the character here involved would be made with the crew. When breach of these contracts was caused by seizure of the vessel at the' instance of the repairmen, it is but fair that claims for damage resulting from such breach be given priority over their claims.
I think, therefore, that the decree appealed from should be affirmed.

 For cases relating to lien for damages for breach of contract of employment as distinguished from wages, see Dary v. The Caroline Miller, D.C., 36 F. 507; The Abbie M. Deering, D.C., 105 F. 400; Tbe White Seal, 9 Cir., 194 F. 402; The Emma F. Angell, D.C., 217 F. 311; The City of New Orleans, C.C., 33 F. 683.