States Marine Lines, Inc. v. United States

• Decision Date: 22 July 1960
• Docket Number: No. 28008.,28008.
• Citation: 196 F. Supp. 562
• Parties: STATES MARINE LINES, INC., a corporation, Libelant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

196 F. Supp. 562

STATES MARINE LINES, INC., a corporation, Libelant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Respondent.

No. 28008.

United States District Court N. D. California, S. D.

July 22, 1960.

Dorr, Cooper & Hays, San Francisco, Cal., for libelant.

Laurence E. Dayton, U. S. Atty., San Francisco, Cal., Keith R. Ferguson, Sp. Asst. to Atty. Gen., for respondent.

BURKE, District Judge.

The respondent United States excepts to the libel on file upon the ground that this court, sitting in admiralty, has no jurisdiction of a suit for declaratory judgment against the respondent. The matter came on regularly to be heard and was submitted upon respondent's brief in which libelant joined.

The respondent believes that declaratory judgment proceedings ought to be available in admiralty, but objects to its use against the United States in admiralty unless and until the court has considered its jurisdiction in this regard. Respondent, therefore, contends that unless the court rules unequivocally in favor of the application of declaratory judgment procedure to all parties in admiralty proceedings, the libel against the United States should be dismissed in the instant proceedings.

The Declaratory Judgments Act of 1934 (28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202) is procedural only and does not purport to enlarge the jurisdiction of the court, Aetna Life Ins. Co. of Hartford, Conn. v. Haworth, 1937, 300 U.S. 227, 240, 57 S.Ct. 461, 81 L.Ed. 617, and no explicit restrictions upon the government's consent to be sued for declaratory judgment decrees is contained in the Suits in Admiralty Act, 46 U.S.C.A. § 743. The relevant section of the Act provides that actions under it "shall proceed and shall be heard and determined according to the principles of law and to the rules of practice obtaining in like cases between private parties". It would thus appear that determination of the basic question raised, i. e., whether or not declaratory relief is available would be a procedural matter applicable to private litigants and to the United States alike. This question need not be decided in view of the holding herein.

Whatever the merit of the contention that declaratory judgment proceedings ought to be available in admiralty actions, that proposition does not seem supported by past decisions. Few courts have considered the question here raised and none have decided it squarely. In Providence Washington Ins. Co. v. Lovett, D.C., 119 F.Supp. 371, the District Court judge rendered a declaratory judgment in an admiralty suit, however, the question of the admiralty court's jurisdiction to entertain such an action was not raised by either counsel or by the court itself. The Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in McLain v. Lance, 146 F.2d 341, affirmed, on different grounds, a lower court which had denied such declaratory relief. The Appellate Court, citing Streckfus Steamers v. Mayor and Alderman, 5 Cir., 81 F.2d 298, noted that there was much uncertainty as to whether or not a court of admiralty is authorized to render a declaratory judgment. Respondent United States in Moran Towing and Transportation Co. v. United States, D.C., 56 F.Supp. 104, 105, excepted to the libel, inter alia, because libelant "seeks a declaratory judgment unknown to admiralty jurisdiction". The court overruled that objection, holding that it was clear that the case was not an action to recover a declaratory judgment, but did not pass on the merits of that contention. Moran Towing and the Streckfus cases, supra, are cited in 1 Anderson, Declaratory Judgments, page 211 (2d ed.) to support the statement that "the clear drift of judicial pronouncements is in the direction against the granting of declaratory...