King v. Pan American World Airways
Decision Date | 08 December 1959 |
Docket Number | No. 16298.,16298. |
Citation | 270 F.2d 355 |
Parties | Virginia J. KING, as Administratrix of the Estate of John Elvins King, Appellant, v. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, a corporation, Appellee. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Smith, Parrish, Paduck & Clancy, Joseph Edward Smith, William Shannon Parrish, John B. Lewis, Oakland, Cal., Herbert Chamberlin, San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.
Steinhart, Goldberg, Feigenbaum & Ladar, Neil E. Falconer, John J. Goldberg, San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.
Before STEPHENS, HAMLIN and JERTBERG, Circuit Judges.
Appellant appeals from the final decree of the district court granting appellee's motion for a summary judgment in its favor. Jurisdiction of the district court was based on U.S.C. Title 28, Section 1333. Jurisdiction of this Court to review such decree is found in U.S.C. Title 28, Sections 1291 and 1294.
The parties agree that the sole and narrow question presented to this Court is whether the California Workmen's Compensation Act ousted the district court of jurisdiction to entertain a suit in admiralty against an employer for wrongful death under the Death on the High Seas Act by the administratrix of the estate of an airline employee who in the course of his employment was killed in the crash of an airliner on the high seas.
The stipulation of facts presented to the district court is as follows:
Appellant's libel was based upon the Death on the High Seas Act (March 30, 1920, c. 111, Sections 1-7, 41 Stat. 537, 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 761-767). Relevant portions of that Act are as follows:
Section 1. "Whenever the death of a person shall be caused by wrongful act, neglect, or default occurring on the high seas beyond a marine league from the shore of any State, or the District of Columbia, or the Territories or dependencies of the United States, the personal representative of the decedent may maintain a suit for damages in the district courts of the United States, in admiralty, for the exclusive benefit of the decedent's wife, husband, parent, child, or dependent relative against the vessel, person, or corporation which would have been liable if death had not ensued."
Section 2. "The recovery in such suit shall be a fair and just compensation for the pecuniary loss sustained by the persons for whose benefit the suit is brought and shall be apportioned among them by the court in proportion to the loss they may severally have suffered by reason of the death of the person by whose representative the suit is brought."
Section 5. "If a person die as a result of such wrongful act, neglect, or default as is mentioned in section 761 of this title during the pendency in a court of admiralty of the United States of a suit to recover damages for personal injuries in respect of such act, neglect, or default, the personal representative of the decedent may be substituted as a party and the suit may proceed as a suit under this chapter for the recovery of the compensation provided in section 762 of this title."
As a separate and special defense, the appellee alleged that the rights and obligations of the appellant were governed by the provisions of the California Workmen's Compensation Act, and that by virtue of the provisions thereof the rights and remedies afforded by said Workmen's Compensation Act provided the sole and exclusive right and remedy of appellant against the appellee for and on account of the death of the deceased employee, and that by virtue thereof appellant is barred from maintaining the action.
The California Workmen's Compensation Act (cited as sections in the West's Ann.California Labor Code) in its pertinent parts provides:
Section 3600: "Liability for the compensation provided by this division, in lieu of any other liability whatsoever to any person except as provided in section 3706, shall, without regard to negligence, exist against an employer for any injury sustained by his employees arising out of and in the course of the employment and for the death of any employee if the injury proximately causes death, in those cases where the following conditions of compensation concur: * * *"
Section 3600.5: "(a) If an employee who has been...
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