Jordine v. Walling

185 F.2d 662
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedDecember 14, 1950
Docket10018
StatusPublished
Cited by99 cases

This text of 185 F.2d 662 (Jordine v. Walling) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordine v. Walling, 185 F.2d 662 (3d Cir. 1950).

Opinion

MARIS, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff entered upon the verdict of a jury in a civil action for maintenance and cure. The action was begun by a seaman and prosecuted after his death by his administratrix. The appeal presents two questions of law for our consideration. The first question is 'whether the district court had jurisdiction, in the absence of diversity of citizenship, to entertain the plaintiff’s cause of action for maintenance and cure in a civil action brought and tried under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 11 as distinguished from a suit in admiralty brought and tried under the Admiralty Rules and procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. This question we answer in the negative. The second question then arises. It is this. Did the district court nonetheless acquire jurisdiction of the plaintiff’s civil action for maintenance and cure because the complaint originally included a count for damages for negligence under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.A. § 688. This question we also answer in the negative.

Philip Santos, the present plaintiff’s decedent, was captain of a barge belonging to the defendants and was injured in connection with the operation of the barge. He brought the civil action here in question claiming in the first count damages under the Jones Act and in the second count maintenance and cure. Both Santos and the defendants were citizens of Pennsylvania. The damages alleged were $100,000 under the Jones Act and $25,000 for maintenance and cure. The first trial resulted in a mistrial. Santos died before the second trial and the present plaintiff, his administratrix, who is also 1 a citizen of Pennsylvania, was substituted. The case was tried in the district court to a jury. At the close of the plaintiff’s case the trial judge dismissed the first count for damages under the Jones Act and submitted the second count for maintenance and cure to the jury which rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $2,883.50 upon which judgment was entered. The defendants thereupon took the appeal now before us, asserting that the district court was without jurisdiction of the cause of action for maintenance and cure upon which the judgment was entered.

The right to maintenance and cure •is an ancient right given to seamen by the maritime law. 2 The district courts may, *666 therefore, entertain suits for maintenance and cure under the grant of jurisdiction over admiralty and maritime cases given to them by Section 1333 of Title 28 United States Code. 3 But the jurisdiction thus conferred is to be exercised according to the procedure in admiralty in which trial is by the district judge without a jury. 4 This particular section of Title 28 does not confer jurisdiction upon the district courts to entertain civil actions in which common law remedies are sought for the enforcement of rights arising under the maritime law. The section does, however, save “to suitors in all cases all other remedies to which they are otherwise entitled.” This “saving to suitors” clause was intended to carry into Title 28 in modern and simplified form the similar provisions of Sec. 24, par. 3, and Sec. 256, par. 3, of the Judicial Code of 1911 “saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy where the common law is competent to- give it”. 5 The latter clause has been held to authorize any competent court which has jurisdiction of the parties to entertain a civil action at law for the enforcement of a right conferred by the maritime law where the right is of such nature that adequate relief may be given in such an action. 6

It is settled that a seaman’s right to damages for a maritime tort and his right to maintenance and cure may each be adequately enforced in a civil action at law and that state courts of general common law jurisdiction may, if they acquire jurisdiction of the parties, entertain such actions for the enforcement of those rights. 7

*667 It does not necessarily follow, however, that the federal district courts may also* entertain such actions for they are not courts of general common law jurisdiction but are strictly limited to the jurisdiction conferred upon them by Congress. 8 Where, however, there is diversity of citizenship the federal district courts are empowered by Section 1332 of Title 28 United States Code to entertain civil actions in the nature of actions at law both for maritime torts and for maintenance and cure if the amount in controversy in each instance exceeds $3,000. 9 Under Section 1332 the district court in the present case would unquestionably have had jurisdiction of the claim for maintenance and cure in the plaintiff’s civil action if the requisite diversity of citizenship and amount in controversy were present. However, even if we assume that in the case before us the amount in controversy did exceed $3,000, 10 it is clear that there was no diversity of citizenship since both plaintiff and defendants were residents of Pennsylvania. The district court, therefore, did not acquire jurisdiction under Section 1332 and, if jurisdiction exists, we must accordingly look elsewhere for it.

The only other statutory grant of jurisdiction having possible application is Section 1331 of Title 28 United States Code, which confers upon the district courts “original jurisdiction of all civil actions wherein the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and arises under the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States.” This section implements the provision of Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution that “The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority”. It is settled, however, that cases arising under the “laws * * * of the United States” to which the section refers are only such as grow out of the legislation of Congress and involve the validity, construction or application of acts of Congress. 11 *They, therefore, do not include cases arising under those general principles of the maritime law 12 which have not been modified by Congressional legislation. This is, of course, not to say that the rules of the maritime law may not be altered by Congress 13

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185 F.2d 662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordine-v-walling-ca3-1950.