Ralph and John Fretz, Appellants v. John Bull, William Clure, and Thomas Foreman, Partners Trading Under the Name and Style of Bull Co, For the Use of the Firemen Insurance Company of Louisville
| Decision Date | 01 December 1851 |
| Citation | 53 U.S. 466,13 L.Ed. 1068,12 How. 466 |
| Parties | RALPH S. AND JOHN FRETZ, APPELLANTS, v. JOHN C. BULL, WILLIAM J. M'CLURE, AND THOMAS S. FOREMAN, PARTNERS, TRADING UNDER THE NAME AND STYLE OF J. C. BULL & CO, FOR THE USE OF THE FIREMEN'S INSURANCE COMPANY OF LOUISVILLE |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
In cases of collision, the law requires that there should be preponderating evidence to fix the loss upon the party sought to be charged, before he can be condemned to make compensation. The Ligo, 2 Hagg. Adm., 356; Curtis Adm. Dig., 144, sect. 6.
A collision may happen without blame being imputable to either party. In such case the loss must be borne by the party upon whom it happens to light. It may be the result of mutual negligence or misconduct. In such case, the Supreme Court of Louisiana has decided that the plaintiff cannot recover. 3 La. Ann., 441.
The general presumption in favor of the party charged is in this case corroborated by a single fact, in regard to which there is no contrariety in the evidence. It seems agreed, on all hands, that the head of the steamboat had passed the flatboat before the collision occurred, and before any one anticipated the danger. Nothing, under such circumstances, could have led to the catastrophe, but the unexpected movement of the flatboat, occasioned by the eddy.
As to the measure of damages, it is submitted that, in a case of this description, vindictive damages ought not to be allowed; nor is the party entitled to more than indemnification. Under this rule, where the property injured is in transitu, and has not reached the port of destination, the prime cost and the necessary expenses incurred, furnish the measure of damages. Amistad de Rues, 5 Wheat., 385; Amiable Nancy, 3 Id., 546; 1 Paine, 111; The Lively, 1 Gall., 308; The Apollon, 9 Wheat., 362.
Another question arises in this case. After the master and crew had been carried to New Orleans in the Memphis, in March, 1847, namely, in March, 1848, Bull and his partners bring this suit for the use of the Firemen's Insurance Company of Louisville. From the bill of lading, it appears that the cargo belonged to several individuals. The insurance effected by them, March 22, 1847, covered the entire cargo; but there was no insurance on the boat itself. The amount of loss, $3,496.48, was paid, May 4, 1847; and it was agreed that Bull & Co. should bring a suit for the recovery. The judgment was for $3,753.45, exceeding the loss paid by the insurance company, with interest, and manifestly included the boat, &c.
The action is brought, as the libel avers, (p. 4), exclusively for the use of the insurance company; yet the claim embraces the boat, on which there was no insurance.
1. It is submitted that, after the payment of the loss by the company, Bull & Co. had no right to bring this suit, he being already paid.
2. That if the insurance company brought suit, it was entitled to recover no more than what was actually paid by it.
3. That, in this action, the claim for the loss sustained by the cargo was improperly joined with a claim for the injury to the boat, the insurance company having no interest in the latter.
Two objections were urged in the argument of this cause by the appellants' counsel, against this court giving a decision upon its merits.
The one, that the court had not jurisdiction on account of the locality of the collision, it being beyond tide-water; and the other, that the libellants could not prosecute this suit for the benefit of others, as the libellants have no interest in it.
The first may be disposed of, because the court, at this term, has decided, in the case of the Genesee Chief v. Hitzhugh et al., that the constitutional jurisdiction of the United States in admiralty was not limited by tide-water, but was extended to the lakes and navigable rivers of the United States.
The other objection is not sustained by the proofs in the cause. Mr. Atwood, p. 39 of the record, states what was the amount of insurance which was paid upon the cargo, by the Firemen's Insurance Company of Louisville, and that nothing was paid to the libellants, Bull & Co., for the loss of the boat.
In admiralty, the party entitled to relief should always be made libellant; and the practice of instituting a suit in the name of one person for the benefit of another, to whom the right has been transferred, only obtains in particular cases. But all persons entitled on the same state of facts to participate in the same relief, may join as libellants, whether the suit be in personam or in rem. Benedict, 211, § 380.
Mr. Atwood, in his testimony, says, how Bull & Co. became united with the insurance company in this suit, though it is not stated in the libel with the precise formality it should have been, yet it appears sufficiently plain in other parts of the libel, and from the proofs in the cause, that the parties named in the libel have respectively an interest, which is covered by the principle just stated, that the same state of facts which will give relief to one will permit others to be joined as libellants. It is no substantial objection, then, that the suit has been brought in the name of Bull & Co., for the use of the Firemen's Insurance Company. The insurance, in this instance, was upon the cargo of boat No. 2, and not upon the boat. The cargo, however, was not fully insured. The insurance company, upon being informed of the loss of it from a collision with the Memphis, paid their policy upon it, and that placed them in a condition to bring this suit for its recovery, if it could be ascertained that the collision was produced by the fault of those who were in charge of the steamer belonging to the appellants.
We will now inquire from what cause the collision happened, or who was in the fault.
In the second article we have a description of its locality. It was at a point in the Mississippi River opposite Prophet's Island, in the state of Louisiana, and took place on the 11th April, 1847, on a clear day, between the hours of...
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