Crane v. Pacific Steamship Co.
| Citation | 272 F. 204 |
| Parties | CRANE v. PACIFIC STEAMSHIP CO. |
| Decision Date | 14 March 1921 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Oregon |
Wm. P Lord, of Portland, Or., for plaintiff.
Grosscup & Morrow and Charles A. Wallace, all of Tacoma, Wash., for defendant.
The plaintiff, a longshoreman employed by defendant company to load and store freight on the deck and in the hold of the steamship City of Topeka, while berthed at one of the docks in the city of Portland, on the navigable waters of the state, was injured while so employed through the alleged negligence of the defendant. He brought an action in personam against his employer in the state court to recover damages for his injury. The defendant removed the cause to this court on the ground of diversity of citizenship, and it has been noted for trial on the law side of the court.
The defendant moves to transfer it to the admiralty docket, on the ground that it is essentially a proceeding in admiralty. The work in which plaintiff was engaged at the time of his injury was maritime in its nature, and his injury was likewise maritime.
The question presented, therefore, is whether one injured by a maritime tort can maintain an action in personam against his employer to recover damages therefor in a common-law court. It was decided adversely to defendant's position by Judge Wolverton in Williams v. Shipping Board et al. (no opinion filed) on July 23, 1920, and his conclusion is supported by the authorities.
The statute conferring jurisdiction on the District Court of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction saves 'to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to give it. ' Section 24, subd. 3, Judicial Code (Comp. St. Sec. 991(3)). And Judge Holmes, speaking for the court in The Hamilton, 207 U.S. 404 28 Sup.Ct. 133, 52 L.Ed. 264, says that the saving clause -- citing authorities. It is a remedy in the common-law courts which is saved to suitors but not a common-law remedy (The Moses Taylor, 4 Wall. 411 18 L.Ed. 397), and hence it was held in Chelentis v. Luckenbach, 247 U.S. 372, 38 Sup.Ct. 501, 62 L.Ed. 1171, that, in an action by a seaman to recover damages for an injury caused by the negligence of a member of the crew in a common-law court, the defendant's liability...
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