The Metis
Opinion of the Court
These are exceptions to the report of the commissioner in a case of collision, wherein the schooner Cosmos, and her cargo, were sunk by the steamer Metis, and there was a decree for the libellant. [Case No. 9,499.]
The first, second and third exceptions may be considered together. The first exception is, that the commissioner improperly received evidence of the value of the schooner at the time of the collision, as fixing the amount of the damage to her, instead of requiring evidence as to the amount which it would have cost to raise and repair her. The second exception is, that the commissioner erred in allowing $5,000 for the
The fourth, fifth and sixth exceptions go to the point, that the allowance of $5,000, as the value of the vessel, was excessive, on the evidence, and that the amount allowed for such value should not have been more than $3.000. I think that the commissioner was fully justified in fixing the sum of $3,-000 as the value of thejvessel.
The seventh exception is, that the commissioner erred in allowing the $5,000, on the basis of the value of the whole of the vessel, and that he should not have allowed more than one-half thereof, inasmuch as one-half of the schooner was owned by the libellant Hall, and such interest of his was insured, and the underwriters had paid him $1,500, as and for a total loss thereon, and had thereby become the owners of the claim for the damages to such one-half interest, and Hall no longer had any interest therein. This defence, in substance, was taken in the answer. Such a defence was expressly overruled in the case of The Monticello v. Mollison, 17 How. [84 U. S.] 152, 155. See, also, Newell v. Norton, 3 Wall. [70 U. S.] 257, 267.
The eighth exception is, that the commissioner erred in allowing $1,263.67, for loss of cargo, on the basis of the full value thereof, without evidence as to the ownership of the cargo, except as to the one-half interest therein owned by the libellant Hall, and without evidence as to whether the vessel or her owners were liable to the owners of the cargo for the loss of the cargo or any part thereof. The cargo was owned by the libellant Hall and another person jointly. Such other person is not a libellant. Hall was master of the schooner. The cargo was being transported on freight. The owners of the vessel are libellants. As such owners and carriers of the cargo on freight, the li-bellants can recover for the damage to the cargo, without the joining, as eo-libellant, of the person who, jointly with Hall, owned the cargo. The Commander-in-Chief, 1 Wall. [68 U. S.] 43, 51, 52; The Commerce, 1 Black [66 U. S.] 574, 582; Newell v. Norton, 3 Wall. [70 U. S.] 257, 267.
The ninth and tenth exceptions, which relate to the value of the personal effects belonging to the libellants Hall and Grindle, are overruled.
All of the exceptions are disallowed, and the report is confirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The METIS
- Status
- Published