Calmar Corporation v. Taylor

Citation82 L.Ed. 993,303 U.S. 525,1938 A.M.C. 341,58 S.Ct. 651
Decision Date28 March 1938
Docket NumberNo. 594,594
PartiesCALMAR S.S. CORPORATION v. TAYLOR. *
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Mr. Frank A. Bull, of New York City, for petitioner.

Mr. Abraham E. Freedman, of Philadelphia, Pa., for respondent.

Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

The question for decision is whether the duty of a shipowner to provide maintenance and cure for a seaman falling ill of an incurable disease while in its employ extends to the payment of a lump sum award sufficient to defray the cost of maintenance and cure for the remainder of his life.

Respondent was a member of the crew of petitioner's steamship Losmar. Following an injury to his foot, allegedly caused by stubbing his toe against an object lying on the floor of the boiler room where he was employed, respondent was found to be afflicted with thrombo angiitis obliterans, otherwise known as Buerger's disease, an incurable malady of the veins and arteries. It is attended by interruptions of the blood stream, with consequent malnutrition of the affected parts, producing lesions, deteriorating changes of the tissues, and gangrene. Medical treatment and amputation of the affected parts may halt the advance of the disease, but its manifestations are likely to recur in other parts of the body, and medical opinion is that the disease tends to be progressive and may ultimately cause death. Care and treatment at frequent intervals, with periodic medical observation of the patient, are of aid in arresting its progress.

After February 12, 1935, when respondent was first hospitalized, he was given treatment at various marine hospitals, in the course of which he suffered four amputations upon the right foot and leg. On October 3, 1935, after his leg had been amputated below the knee, he was discharged to the 'Outpatient Department to return at intervals for re-examination, and later to be fitted with an artificial limb.' Petitioner, from time to time, paid respondent small sums for maintenance and cure, continuing to do so until March 10, 1936, when they totaled $487. At about this time respondent brought the present suit in admiralty to recover maintenance and cure, and, in another count, for petitioner's negligence in causing the injury. The trial court found that petitioner was not negligent, but held that respondent is entitled to recover the cost of maintenance and medical treatment so long as such treatment is necessary, and that as his affliction is incurable, there should be a lump sum award based on his life expectancy. Its decree awarding a recovery of $7,000 was affirmed by the Court of Appeals. 3 Cir., 92 F.2d 84. Because of the importance of this question, we granted certiorari, 302 U.S. 681, 58 S.Ct. 408, 82 L.Ed. —-, but denied a cross-petition to review the Court of Appeals' affirmance of the decree for the shipowner on the negligence count. 303 U.S. 643, 58 S.Ct. 642, 82 L.Ed. —-.

The ancient duty of a vessel and her owner to provide maintenance and cure for seamen injured or falling ill while in service was recognized and, to some extent, defined by this Court in The Osceola, 189 U.S. 158, 175, 23 S.Ct. 483, 47 L.Ed. 760. See, also, Chelentis v. Luckenbach S.S. Co., 247 U.S. 372, 38 S.Ct. 501, 62 L.Ed. 1171; Pacific S.S. Co. v. Peterson, 278 U.S. 130, 49 S.Ct. 75, 73 L.Ed. 220. The duty, which arises from the contract of employment, Cortes v.Baltimore Insular Line, 287 U.S. 367, 371, 53 S.Ct. 173, 174, 77 L.Ed. 368, does not rest upon negligence or culpability on the part of the owner or master, Id; The City of Alexandria, D.C., 17 F. 390; The Mars, 3 Cir., 149 F. 729, 731; Sorensen v. Alaska S.S. Co., D.C., 243 F. 280, affirmed 9 Cir., 247 F. 294; Brown v. The Bradish Johnson, C.C., Fed.Cas.No.1992, 1 Woods 301, nor is it restricted to those cases where the seaman's employment is the cause of the injury or illness,The Wensleydale D.C., injury or illness, The Wensleydale, D.C., F. 831. It is not an award of compensation for the disability suffered, The Wanderer, C.C., 20 F. 140, 143, although breach of the duty may render the owner liable for the consequential damages suffered by the seaman, Cortes v. Baltimore Insular Line, supra, 287 U.S. 367, at page 371, 53 S.Ct. 173, 174, 77 L.Ed. 368. The maintenance exacted is comparable to that to which the seaman is entitled while at sea, The Henry B. Fiske, D.C., 141 F. 188, 192; The Mars, D.C., 145 F. 446, 447, affirmed 3 Cir., 149 F. 729; The Bouker No. 2, supra, 2 Cir., 241 F. 831, at page 836, and 'cure' is care, including nursing and medical attention during such period as the duty continues, Whitney v. Olsen, 9 Cir., 108 F. 292, 297 and cases cited; Dougherty v. Thompson-Lockhart Co., D.C., 211 F. 224, 227.

In The Osceola, supra, this Court reserved the point whether the duty of maintenance and cure extends beyond the duration of the voyage, and that question, so far as this Court is concerned, remains an open one. The reasons underlying the rule, to which reference must be made in defining it, are those enumerated in the classic passage by Mr. Justice Story in Harden v. Gordon, C.C., Fed.Cas.No.6047: The protection of seamen, who, as a class, are poor, friendless and improvident from the hazards of illness and abandonment while ill in foreign ports; the inducement to masters and owners to protect the safety and health of seamen while in service; the maintenance of a merchant marine for the commercial service and maritime defense of the nation by inducing men to accept employment in an arduous and perilous service.

It is plain that in many cases these purposes will not be accomplished if the owner's duty to furnish maintenance and cure ends with the voyage. If the injury or illness outlasts it, the seaman may still be left helpless and uncared for in a foreign port. Even if he is returned to the home port the inducement to the owner to care for the health and safety of seamen during the voyage and the inducement to seamen to take the necessary risks of a hazardous calling will be materially lessened. The chances of their prompt restoration to a service whose preservation is in the public interest, will be diminished if the right to maintenance and cure ends with the voyage.

Tacit recognition is accorded these considerations in the great number of cases in the lower federal courts sustaining the right to maintenance and cure for a reasonable time after the voyage—'reasonable time' being appraised with reference to the special circumstances of each case. The Bouker No. 2, supra, 2 Cir., 241 F. 831, at page 835, and cases cited at page 834. It is true that in most of these cases the efficient cause of the injury or illness was some proven act of the seaman in the service of the ship, but there are others in which it was deemed enough that he was incapacitated when subject to the call of duty as a seaman, and that his incapacity continued after the voyage had ended. The Bouker No. 2, supra, 2 Cir., 241 F. 831, at page 835; The Wensleydale, supra.

We accept as supported by evidence, the finding of the District Court that respondent's disease and the amputations which he suffered were not caused by the injury to his foot. But we think that even in such a case, whether the seaman is at home or abroad, his right to maintenance and cure may outlast the voyage. The policy underlying the obligation, so cogently stated by Justice Story in Harden v. Gordon, supra, and the liberality with which...

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