Kyriakos v. Polemis

63 F. Supp. 19
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedFebruary 1, 1946
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 63 F. Supp. 19 (Kyriakos v. Polemis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kyriakos v. Polemis, 63 F. Supp. 19 (S.D.N.Y. 1946).

Opinion

BONDY, District Judge.

This is a libel to recover for injuries sustained by the libelant through the alleged negligence of the respondents, for maintenance and cure, and unpaid wages.

The respondent Polemis was not served. The libel against the British Ministry of War Transport, the time charterer of the ship Theomitor, was dismissed on consent. At the trial the libelant withdrew his claim based on the alleged unseaworthiness of the Theomitor and elected to proceed under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C.A. § 688.

The libelant is a citizen of Greece. He was assaulted at Fernandina, Florida, by a fellow seaman while serving as a fireman on the Theomitor, a vessel flying the flag of Greece and owned in Greece by the respondent Michael Polemis.

The libelant was hired for a voyage from Newport News, Virginia to England and back to the United States.

The' fact that the libelant was an alien seaman serving upon a foreign ship owned and operated by aliens does not deprive him of the right to maintain this action under the Jones Act, in view of the fact that he resided in the United States, that he was injured within territorial waters of the United States while in the service of the ship on a voyage that began and was to end in the United States. Gambera v. Bergoty, 2 Cir., 132 F.2d 414, certiorari denied 319 U.S. 742, 63 S.Ct. 1030, 87 L.Ed. 1699. See Uravic v. F. Jarka Co., 282 U.S. 234, 239, 51 S.Ct. 111, 75 L.Ed. 312. Compare The Paula, 2 Cir., 91 F.2d 1001. Nor is he deprived of his right to maintain this action under the Jones Act fof damages and for maintenance and cure, because the injuries were sustained by him while ashore and! at a distance from the ship, in view of the fact that they were sustained while he was on shore leave and in the service of the ship. Aguilar v. Standard Oil Company, 318 U.S. 724, 63 S.Ct. 930, 87 L.Ed. 1107; O’Donnell v. Great Lakes Company, 318 U.S. 36, 63 S.Ct. 488, 87 L.Ed. 596; Marceau v. Great Lakes Transit Corporation, 2 Cir., 146 F.2d 416.

The respondents contend that the libel-ant has not established that they or any of them were the employers of the libelant and [21]*21that therefore he could not maintain his libel against them under the Jones Act.

The libelant and other members of the crew were engaged at the office of the respondent General Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., of Greece, generally known, and herein referred to, as the Greek Line, and the contracts for their employment were prepared there. The libelant testified that he delivered his contract to the master of the Theomitor after he was injured. Neither the contract nor articles were produced at the trial. Nor does it appear that he knew that the Greek Line was acting as an agent and not as a principal. See Lewis v. United States Nav. Co., D.C., 57 F.Supp. 652. At the port of Fernandina, Florida, the master of the Theomitor named “Goulan-dris Bros.” as the owners of the Theomitor.

In answer to interrogatories, the respondents stated that Michael Polemis was the registered owner and that the respondent Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd. was the agent of the Theomitor, and that the respondents Basil, Nicholas and Leonidas Goulandris controlled Goulandris Bros. (Helles) Ltd.

The agent and general manager of the New York office of the Greek Line made contradictory statements under oath. He gave answers that were evasive, and he himself often confused names of the respondents. He testified that Basil, Nicholas and Leonidas Goulandris, partners known as Goulandris Bros., controlled the Greek Line and that he assumed they were officers of the Greek Line; that the cable address of the Greek Line is “Goulandbros”; that the libelant and other members of the crew of the Theomitor were procured by the Greek Line and that the contracts for their employment were prepared at its office; that the Greek Line was authorized to operate passenger boats between Greece and the United States. He testified that the respondent Polemis was the owner of the Theomitor, that Polemis lives in Greece and therefore had agents running his ships, the general understanding being that the agent was Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd. rather than Goulandris Bros. However, in an examination before trial in a State Court action he had testified that Goulandris Bros, are the agents of Polemis. Until confronted with testimony given by him at another trial he denied that the individual respondents trading as Goulandris Bros, had funds here on deposit in the special account of the Greek Line. Although he had denied, he finally admitted, that the funds of Gou-landris Bros, were mingled with the funds of Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd., in the special bank account of the Greek Line. All freight earned by ships of the Goulan-dris companies was deposited in a special account of the Greek Line and all charges against the ships were advanced out of that account and charged to and borne by the Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd., no matter to whom the ships belonged. On the books of the Greek Line accounts were kept in the name of each ship, and the freight earned and expenses paid on account of each ship were credited and charged on the account and the totals thereof transferred periodically to an account kept in the name of Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd.

The expense of the transportation of the libelant to Newport News and some of his hospital and physicians’ bills were advanced in this manner by the Greek Line and ultimately borne by Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd.

The master of the Theomitor in his deposition stated that he joined the ship in 1939 and was employed by Polemis Brothers, the owners of the Theomitor. He admitted that the libelant was engaged in New York and sent to him at Newport News. He also testified that Goulandris Bros. London, operated the Theomitor and that Basil and Leonidas Goulandris, and perhaps also Nicholas Goulandris, are partners and owners of that company; that he did not know whether Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd. were the owners and operators prior to the invasion of Greece. When he registered the vessel with the U. S. Customs Service at Fernandina he listed .Goulandris Bros, as owners.

The Court believes that the evidence permits the inference that the Goulandris brothers controlled Goulandris Bros. (Hellas) Ltd., Goulandris Bros. London, and the Greek Line, and that they, or some of them, controlled and operated the Theomitor.

As was said in Armit v. Loveland, 3 Cir., 115 F.2d 308, 314:

“If the defendants so scrambled their relations as to render it difficult for anyone to say for a certainty whether the plaintiff w&s employed by only one or by all of them that should not serve to defeat the plaintiff’s right by relieving a responsible defendant. To hold otherwise would be [22]*22to put a premium upon the confusion which the defendants themselves created. The ones responsible for it should be the ones to dispel it, which they can do by adjusting their respective liabilities inter se.

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Bluebook (online)
63 F. Supp. 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kyriakos-v-polemis-nysd-1946.