THE CULBERSON
| Decision Date | 25 August 1932 |
| Docket Number | No. 4795.,4795. |
| Citation | 61 F.2d 194 |
| Parties | THE CULBERSON. WOOTTON v. UNITED STATES. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Mortimer W. H. Cox, of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant.
Phillip Forman, U. S. Atty., of Trenton, N. J., and Charles E. Wythe, Sp. Asst. U. S. Atty., of New York City.
Before BUFFINGTON, DAVIS, and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges.
This is an appeal from a decree of the District Court allowing the libelant an award of $3,167 and costs.
The suit is in admiralty and arose out of a collision between the steamship Culberson, a merchant vessel owned by the United States, and the United States Coast Guard Patrol Boat No. 113, on July 20, 1928, in the Delaware Bay in the vicinity of the Overfalls Light Vessel. John F. Haines, a member of the crew of the Coast Guard Patrol Boat No. 113, which sank immediately after the collision, and another, lost their lives in consequence of the collision.
Haines' mother, the libelant, filed a claim in personam against the United States as owner of the steamship Culberson under the "Death on the High Seas Act" of March 30, 1920 (41 Stat. 537 46 USCA §§ 761-768), which provides as follows:
Section 1. That "whenever the death of a person shall be caused by a 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. That "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." 46 USCA §§ 761, 762.
Mrs. Wootton claims "fair and just compensation for the pecuniary loss which she sustained" in the death of her son through the negligence of the Culberson. She was 52 and her son was 32 years old. He made his home with his mother when not on duty in the Coast Guard. Mrs. Wootton received $25 to $30 a month from him, and she lost this amount by his death. The learned district judge awarded her...
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