Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski

43 S. Ct. 418

Type: Opinion
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: Federal
Date: 1923-04-09
Topic: general

holding widow of worker killed on board helping repair a scow moored in navigable waters could not recover | application of wrongful death statute of the State of New York | discussing admiralty jurisdiction over "contract matters”

Citator

Cited by: 54 opinions

GT. LAKES CO.v. KIEREJEWSKI,261 U.S. 479(1923)

43 S.Ct. 418

GREAT LAKES DREDGE DOCK COMPANYv. KIEREJEWSKI, ADMINISTRATRIX OF

KIEREJEWSKI.

ERROR TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF

NEW YORK.

No. 633.

Argued February 27, 1923.

Decided April 9, 1923.

The District Court has admiralty jurisdiction over a libel to recover damages, in accordance with a local death statute, for a death occurring on navigable waters while the decedent was there performing maritime service to a completed vessel afloat, and occasioned by a tort then and there committed. P. 480. Affirmed.

ERROR to a judgment of the District Court recovered by the

defendant in error in her libel for damages for the death of her

husband.

Page 480

Mr. George Clinton, Jr., with whomMr. Ulysses S. Thomaswas on the briefs, for plaintiff in error.Mr. Irving W. Colefor defendant in error.

MR. JUSTICE McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

The sole question propounded upon this direct writ of error is whether the District Court rightly held that it had jurisdiction to entertain the libel by which defendant in error sought to recover damages for the death of her husband. 280 F. 125.

Plaintiff in error, a corporation engaged in dredging, pile driving, etc., maintains a yard at Buffalo, New York, and also keeps there scows and tugs. Leo Kierejewski, a master boiler maker, was employed by it to perform services as called upon. Acting under this employment, he began to make repairs upon a scow moored in the navigable waters of Buffalo River. He stood upon a scaffold resting upon a float alongside. One of the Company's tugs came near, negligently agitated the water, swamped the float and precipitated him into the stream where he drowned.

While performing maritime service to a completed vessel afloat, he came to his death upon navigable waters as the result of a tort there committed. The rules of the maritime law supplemented by the local death statute applied and fixed the rights and liabilities of the parties.Western Fuel Co. v.Garcia,257 U.S. 233.

"The general doctrine that in contract matters admiralty jurisdiction depends upon the nature of the transaction and in tort matters upon the locality, has been so frequently asserted by this court that it must now be treated as settled."GrantSmith-Porter Ship Co. v.Rohde,257 U.S. 469,476.

In the cause last cited neither Rohde's general employment nor his activities had any direct relation to navigationPage 481or commerce — the matter was purely local — and we were of opinion that application of the state statute, as between the parties, would not work material prejudice to any characteristic feature of the general maritime law or interfere with its proper harmony or uniformity.

Here the circumstances are very different. Not only was the tort committed and effective on navigable waters, but the rights and liabilities of the parties are matters which have direct relation to navigation and commerce.Southern Pacific Co. v.Jensen,244 U.S. 205;Carlisle Packing Co. v.Sandanger,259 U.S. 255;State Industrial Commission of New Yorkv.Nordenholt Corporation,259 U.S. 263.Affirmed.