(DOWNLOAD) "Newman v. United Fruit Co." by United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Newman v. United Fruit Co.
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Release Date : January 29, 1944
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 54 KB
Description
This suit was brought under § 594 of Title 46 of the U.S.C.A., R.S. § 4527; and involves two questions: first, whether the libellants, who are seamen, were entitled to one months wages; and second, whether they are entitled, in addition, to one months maintenance. The district judge granted the wages, but denied the maintenance; and each side has appealed. The facts, which were stipulated, were as follows. On the 28th of May, 1941, the libellants signed articles as members of the crew of the respondents steamer, "Quirigua", for a voyage from the port of New York to Central and South American Ports, and return. The articles provided for monthly wages; and the reasonable amount of each mans subsistence on the vessel was $2.50 a day. On May 29th the respondent discharged the libellants without their consent and without any fault on their part; and the voyage provided in the articles was never made. The respondents reason for the discharge was that the United States Maritime Commission requisitioned the "Quirigua" for use in the United States Navy, and required the respondent to cancel all existing arrangements for her prospective voyage. The details of this requisition were as follows. On the 27th, the President proclaimed "an unlimited national emergency," and on that day someone in the office of the Commission telephoned from Washington to New York to Jackson, vice-president and counsel of the respondent, and asked him to come to Washington "to discuss the question of delivery to the Navy for immediate use two of the Companys ships of the ChiriquiQuirigua class, of which the Company had six." Jackson went to Washington that day and arrived on the 28th, where one, Morse, who was in charge of the procurement of large vessels, told him that the Navy had requested the Commission to requisition "two ships of the ChiriquiQuirigua class, and that the Commission was to requisition the use of the two of these ships which were then in the United States." Jackson answered that both the "Chiriqui" and the "Quirigua" had already been booked with cargo and passengers, and that it would be inconvenient and expensive to cancel their sailings. Morse then telephoned to the Navy Department, which "insisted that these two vessels be taken"; and Morse thereupon informed Jackson that the Commission "would forthwith issue a requisition order and take possession of the vessels unless the Company agreed to take all steps necessary to make the ships available for the Navy not later than Monday morning, June 2, 1941." Acting upon this demand, the respondent tendered the ships to the Navy on May 31, 1941, after discharging the libellants on the 29th, as we have said. It does not appear at what hour on the 29th the libellants signed the articles; nor at what hour on the same day Morse told Jackson that the Commission would take the ships. The judge held that the discharge was improper, and that one months wages were due; but that the recovery should be limited to wages, because the statute did not include any allowance for maintenance.
 "Newman v. United Fruit Co." by United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}