ALPHA STEAMSHIP CORPORATION ET AL.
v.
CAIN
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A seaman employed on an American steamship sued his employer for injuries sustained when a superior officer assaulted him with a wrench while at sea. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment awarding the seaman $12,000 in damages, holding that such an assault constitutes negligence covered under the Federal Employers' Liability Act as made available to seamen by the Merchant Marine Act, rejecting the lower court's application of general maritime law instead.
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Mr. Justice Butler delivered the opinion of the Court.
Respondent was a seaman employed as a fireman on the American steamship Alpha navigating the high seas. The corporation petitioner owned and operated the vessel and the other petitioners were in possession of her. Respondent sued petitioners in the federal court for the Southern District of New York to recover damages for personal injuries caused by an assault upon him by his superior, one Jackson, an assistant engineer in charge of the engine room. The complaint charged and the evidence was sufficient to warrant a finding that Jackson was authorized by defendants to direct plaintiff about his work and that, for the purpose of reprimanding him for tardiness and compelling him to work, Jackson struck plaintiff with a wrench and seriously injured him. That was the basis of fact upon which the jury under the charge of the court was authorized to find for plaintiff. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $12,000 and the judgment thereon was affirmed in the Circuit Court of Appeals.
That court expressed the opinion, 35 F. (2d) 717, 721, that § 33 of the Merchant Marine Act, 46 U. S. C., § 688, and the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U. S. C., §§ 51-59, did not apply and held defendants liable under the general maritime law without regard to these Acts. But in Jamison v. Encarnacion, decided this day, ante, p. 635, we hold that such an assault is negligence within the meaning of § 1 of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act which is made available to seamen by § 33 of the Merchant Marine.Act. The ruling in that case controls in this. We need not examine the grounds upon which the Circuit Court of Appeals put its decision.
Judgment affirmed.
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Cortes v. Baltimore Insular Line, Inc., 287 U.S. 367 (U.S. 1932)…member of the crew upon another with a view to hurrying up the work has been brought within the category of “ negligence,” and hence in a suit against the owner becomes an actionable wrong. Jamison v. Encarnacion, supra; Alpha S. S. Corp. v. Cain, 281 U. S. 642. Approaching the decision of this case in a like spirit of liberality, we put aside many of the refinements of construction that a different spirit might approve. [*376] The failure to furnish cure is a personal injury actionable at the suit of the…
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Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. v. Smith, 305 U.S. 424 (U.S. 1939)…on that remedial legislation for the benefit and protection of seamen has been liberally construed to attain that end. Chelentis v. Luckenbach S. S. Co., 247 U. S. 372, 380, 381; Jamison v. Encarnacion, 281 U. S. 635, 639; Alpha S. S. Corp. v. Cain, 281 U. S. 642; Cortes v. Baltimore Insular Line, 287 U. S. 367, 375; Warner v. Goltra, 293 U. S. 155, 157. Any rule of assumption of risk in admiralty, whatever its scope, must be applied in conjunction with the established admiralty doctrine of comparative negl…
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THE Ariz. v. Anelich, 298 U.S. 110 (U.S. 1936)…visions, like others of the Merchant Marine Act, of which it is a part, are to be liberally construed to attain that end, see Cortes v. Baltimore Insular Line, 287 U. S. 367, 375; Jamison v. Encanacion, 281 U. S. 635, 639; Alpha S. S. Corp. v. Cain, 281 U. S. 642; Warner v. Goltra, 293 U. S. 155, 157, 160, and are to be interpreted in harmony with the established doctrine of maritime law of which it is an integral part. The denial in the Federal Employers’ Liability Act of the defense of assumption of risk r…
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- Cain v. Alpha S. S. Corp., 35 F.2d 717 (2d Cir. 1929)