The Benefactor Steamship Company v. Mount

• Decision Date: 01 October 1880
• Citation: 26 L.Ed. 351,103 U.S. 239
• Parties: THE 'BENEFACTOR.' STEAMSHIP COMPANY v. MOUNT
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

103 U.S. 239

103 U.S. 239

26 L.Ed. 351

THE 'BENEFACTOR.'

STEAMSHIP COMPANY

v. MOUNT.

October Term, 1880

APPEALS from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of New York.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. Cornelius Van Santvoord for the appellant.

Mr. Franklin A. Wilcox and Mr. Robert D. Benedict, contra.

MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the court.

On the 26th of February, 1875, a collision occurred off the coast of New Jersey, in the vicinity of Squam Beach, between the schooner 'Susan Wright' and the steamship 'Benefactor,' which resulted in the sinking of the former with a total loss of vessel and cargo. Soon afterwards a libel was filed against the steamer in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of New York, at the suit of the owners of the schooner for the loss of their vessel; and a separate libel at the suit of the crew for the loss of their personal effects; and pending the proceedings on these libels, a petition of intervention was filed by the owners of the schooner's cargo to recover the value of the same. The steamer being attached, was duly appraised and her value fixed at $40,000, and the appellants, the New York and Wilmington Steamship Company, having appeared as claimants and owners thereof, an order was made granting them leave to give a stipulation, with sufficient sureties, in said appraised value of the steamer, and directing that said stipulation should be for the benefit of the libellants in both of said suits (in case they should establish the liability of the steamship), and of all persons and parties who might, by due proceedings in the court, show themselves entitled to liens upon her by reason of said collision; and that upon giving such stipulation the steamer should be discharged from all liability. A stipulation was filed by the claimants in pursuance of this order, and the steamer was thereupon discharged.

The claimants then filed answers to each of the libels, denying that the steamer was in fault, and denying all liability by reason of the collision. Upon the issue thus formed proofs were taken by the parties. On the twenty-first day of April, 1876, the District Court adjudged the steamer to have been in fault, and the damages of the libellants and intervenors were assessed, amounting in the aggregate to $61,810.49. The suits were then consolidated, and on the twenty-first day of October, 1876, a decree was rendered in favor of the libellants and intervenors for the several amounts awarded to them respectively, and directing the claimants and their sureties to pay into the registry of the court the amount of their stipulation; namely, $500 for costs, and $40,000 and the interest thereon for the value of the steamer. The decree further directed that unless an appeal should be taken within the time limited by law, the clerk should distribute the proceeds of said stipulation among the libellants and co-libellants in proportion to their several recoveries. From this decree an appeal was taken to the Circuit Court.

It thus appearing that the damages of those interested in the schooner and her cargo exceeded the value of the steamer, and she being condemned by the court of first instance as being in fault for the collision, the claimants, on the fifteenth day of February, 1877, filed a petition in the said District Court under the fifty-fourth Rule in Admiralty, claiming the benefit of limitation of liability provided for in sect. 4283 of the Revised Statutes.

In this petition the claimants allege, as required by the act, that the collision happened and the loss and damage occurred without their privity or knowledge. They then state the fact of the filing of the libels before mentioned, and the proceedings which took place thereon; and restate the facts and circumstances on which they relied in their answers to the libels for exemption from all liability. They then state that they desire to contest their liability and that of the steamship for the damage occasioned by the collision, and also to claim the benefit of limitation of liability provided for by sect. 4283 of the Revised Statutes. They further state that the freight pending at the time of the collision was $1,220.32; and they tender themselves ready and willing and offer to give a stipulation with sureties in the value of the steamship and freight for the payment thereof into court whenever it should be so ordered. They also offer to admit in evidence, at the proper time, the depositions and proofs taken in the libel suits. Then, having stated the fact that the damages were assessed in said suits to an amount greatly exceeding the value of the steamship and freight pending, they pray for an order permitting them to give the stipulation proffered; and that, if it shall be ultimately adjudged that the steamship is liable, a monition may issue against all persons claiming any damage from the collision, citing them to appear before the court and make proof of their claims before a commissioner to be designated for that purpose; and for a final decree that the amount of the stipulation (after payment of costs and expenses) be divided pro rata among the claimants, and that upon payment thereof the steamship and the petitioners be for ever discharged from further liability; and that an order be made to restrain the libellants in the other suits from further prosecuting the same, and that the court proceed to hear and determine the liability of the petitioners upon the testimony taken on the trial of those suits; and that they may have the benefit of appeal from any decree to be made, without giving further or other security than that required by the said act limiting their liability; and that the testimony taken as aforesaid be used on said appeal as though originally taken in this proceeding; 'and that they may have and receive such other and further order in the premises as in equity they may be entitled to receive.'

A copy of this petition, with notice of an application for an order restraining the libellants in the first suits from the further prosecution thereof, being served upon said libellants, they filed three exceptions to the petition; the first of which was overruled. The second and third were as follows:——

'Second, For that the said two suits of William H. Mount and others, and William Hirst and others, against the said steamship 'Benefactor,' having been tried upon the merits, and submitted and determined, and the final decree, a copy whereof is annexed to the said petition, having been entered in the suit formed by the consolidation of such two suits, before the filing of the petition herein; and no other suit or proceeding, for any loss, damage, destruction, or injury occasioned by said collision, having been commenced, and it not being alleged or claimed that any other persons or parties than the libellants in said two suits (being the libellants in said consolidated suit) have any claims for loss, damage, destruction, or injury occasioned by said collision, but the contrary thereof appearing upon the face of said petition, the petitioner is not entitled to the relief sought in and by its said petition.

'Third, For that the facts stated in said petition show that the relief sought thereby cannot now be granted by this

The district judge not only denied the motion for a restraining order, but, upon the exceptions taken, dismissed the petition; and, on appeal to the Circuit Court, this decree was affirmed. The ground of dismissal relied on by the district judge (which was adopted by the Circuit Court) was that the petition came too late, inasmuch as it was not filed until after a trial of the cause of collision upon its merits and a final decree thereon. The judge referred to the fifty-sixth admiralty rule, which declares that in proceedings to obtain a decree for a limited liability, the owners may contest all liability on their part or that of their vessel, as well as claim a limitation of liability under the statute; provided, that in their libel or petition they shall state the facts and circumstances by reason of which exemption from liability is claimed. He supposes that this right to contest the case on the merits at the same time and in the same proceedings that a limited liability is claimed, implies that such proceedings must be instituted before the case has been tried on its merits; because a second trial of the same matter, after it has once been adjudicated, will not be deemed to have been contemplated by the rule. In supposing that a second trial of the merits, between the same parties, was not contemplated by the rule, the judge was correct. But it was certainly not the intention of the admiralty rules to preclude a party from claiming the benefit of a limited liability after a trial of the cause of collision. The fifty-sixth rule was merely intended to relieve ship-owners from the English rule of practice, which requires them, when they seek the benefit of the law of limited liability, to confess the ship to have been in fault in the collision. This was deemed to be a very onerous requirement; for in many, if not in most cases, it is extremely doubtful which vessel, if either, was in fault; and to require the owners of either to confess fault before allowing them to claim the benefit of the law, would go far to deprive them of its benefit altogether. Hence this court, in preparing the rules of procedure for a limitation of liability, deemed it proper to allow a party seeking such limitation to contest any liability whatever. But this rule of procedure was not intended to abrogate, and indeed could not abrogate, the rule of law, that res judicata, or a matter once regularly decided between parties in a competent tribunal, cannot be again opened by either of them except in an...