The Geapeshot

10 F. Cas. 987, 2 Woods 42
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 15, 1874
StatusPublished

This text of 10 F. Cas. 987 (The Geapeshot) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Geapeshot, 10 F. Cas. 987, 2 Woods 42 (circtdla 1874).

Opinion

WOODS, Circuit Judge.

The libel was; filed upon a bottomry bond for supplies and repairs furnished the bark at Rio in the spring of 1858. The cause had been once to the supreme court of the United States, which reversed the decision of the circuit court The circuit court had rendered a decree for the entire sum secured by the bot-tomry bond. The supreme court was of opinion that some of the items in the bills secured by the bonds were not subjects of bot-tomry, and that the actual necessity for some of the supplies and repairs was not shown. That court, therefore, reversed the decision of the circuit court and remanded the cause with instructions, “To refer the account for supplies and repairs to one or more commissioners, experienced in commerce and of known intelligence and probity, to ascertain under the instructions of the court, what portion of the supplies and repairs actually furnished to the ship was really necessary; and for the amount thus as[988]*988certained and approved by the court, to enter a decree £or libellants.” The parties selected Mr. J. W. Gurley as master, and the selection was approved by the court. The master took the testimony of but one witness, in addition to the evidence already in the record. This witness testified to facts which had occurred fourteen years before he gave his testimony, and the evidence in the rec-ord shows that he must have been mistaken in his statement of facts. The master concluded, and we think properly, that this new evidence did not substantially change the case as it appeared in the original record. The master reported that the principal sum due on the bond for supplies and repairs actually furnished the ship and really neces■sary, amounted to $4,392.25.

1. The first exception is to the amount of this allowance. The libellant claims that because Clark, the master of the vessel, was .also a part owner, he was authorized to make a bottomry bond on the ship anywh'ere and for any reason. But it seems to me too late to review this question. If Clark was a part owner it must appear in the record, and the supreme court has decided that the whole bond cannot be sustained. It has, therefore, either found that Clark was not a part owner, or if he was, that he was not on that account authorized to make the bond unless there was a real necessity therefor. I regard this exception as raising a question already settled by the supreme court

2. The second exception is, that the master did not allow the 19% per cent maritime interest on the $4,392.25 which was stipulated for in the bond nor legal interest from and .after the date of judicial demand, July 3, 1858. The master was not required to pass upon these questions. He has done what the order of reference required and no more. This exception must, therefore, be overruled, but this court will now determine the question for itself. In admiralty appeals, the supreme court never does allow interest as .such. Hemmenway v. Fisher, 20 How. [61 U. S.] 255; Boyce’s Ex’r v. Grundy, 9 Pet. [34 U. S.] 275; Phil. Pr. U. S. 260. When in the opinion of the court interest should be allowed, it is included in the decree as a .gross sum. Now the supreme court has directed specifically for what sum the decree in this case shall be, to wit: The amount found due for supplies and repairs actually furnished and really necessary. The bot-tomry bond, which is the basis of the libel, expressly provides that the libellant shall be entitled to “a premium of 19% per cent, for the voyage, in consideration whereof all risks of the sea, seizures, enemies, fires, pirates, etc., are to be on account of” libellants. By the terms of the bond, this premium is as much the due of the libellants as the principal sum loaned on the bond, and as there does not seem to have been any question raised in the supreme' court of its allowance, if any part of the principal sum found was recoverable, and it is not excluded by .the decree of the supreme court, we must allow the premium on the amount actually found due by the master. But it is insisted strenuously that as neither the bottomry bond nor the decree of the supreme court says anything about the allowance of ordinary interest, none can be allowed. Does the fact that there is no stipulation for ordinary interest in the bond preclude this court from allowing interest from the commencement of the suit, before which time the bond, if anything at all was due on it, was payable? The general common law rule is that the law does not imply a contract on the part of the debt- or to pay interest on the sum he owes, although the debt maj be of a fixed amount, and may have been frequently demanded. 2 Chit Cont (11th Am. Ed.) 950, and cases there cited. But according to the American authorities, interest will be allowed after a demand of payment, even of an unsettled claim, for goods sold and delivered or services rendered, from the time of the demand, and the presentment of an account or commencement of a suit is sufficient demand on which to found and from which to date a claim of interest. Barnard v. Bartholomew, 22 Pick. 291; McIlvaine v. Wilkins, 12 N. H. 481 et seq.; Selleck v. French, 1 Conn. 32; Gray v. Van Amringe, 2 Watts & S. 128; Golf v. Rehoboth, 2 Cush. 475. Interest is allowed on liquidated demands in the admiralty as well as at law. The Swallow [Case No. 13,665]. In suits for seamen’s wages, interest is allowed from the time of demand, or if no demand be made, from the commencement of the suit Gammel v. Skinner [Id. 5,210]; Sheppard v. Taylor, 5 Pet, [30 U. S.] 675.

These authorities settle the principle, and there can be no question that the libellants are entitled to ordinary interest on the' amount properly loaned on the bottomry bond, at least from the commencement of the suit But the claimant says that the question of interest has been ruled adversely to the libellant by the decree of the supreme court in this case. He says that the decree of the supreme court in this case — [The Grapeshot] 9 Wall. [76 U. S.] 145 — directs this court to ascertain “what portion of the repairs and supplies actually furnished to the ship were really necessary, and for the amount thus ascertained and approved by the court, to enter a decree for the libellants.” That as this direction of the court says nothing about interest, none can be allowed. To sustain this view we are referred to the cases of Boyce’s Ex’r v. Grundy, 9 Pet. [34 U. S.] 290; Hemmenway v. Fisher, 20 How. [61 U. S.] 255; to rule 23, U. S. Sup. Ct. Bules; and to Phil. Pr. U. S. (Rev. Ed.) 257. The rule of the supreme court and these authorities apply only to cases when the judgment or decree of the lower court has been affirmed. The holding is that unless the supreme court, in the affirmance of a judgment or decree, [989]*989allows interest, it cannot be allowed by tbe lower court, when called on to execute the mandate. But in the case of The Grapeshot [supra] the decree of the circuit court was reversed, and the cause sent back to the circuit court to ascertain the amount due libel-lants, and with instructions to render a decree for the amount so ascertained. The supreme court never passed upon the question of interest It never disallowed interest. The libellants are clearly - entitled to it unless it is expressly disallowed. As well might it be claimed that libellants are not entitled to their premium of 19% per cent, which is expressly provided for in the bond, because the supreme court makes no mention of it in its order remanding the case to this court.

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Related

Gray v. Van Amringe
2 Watts & Serg. 128 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1841)
Selleck v. French
1 Conn. 32 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1814)

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Bluebook (online)
10 F. Cas. 987, 2 Woods 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-geapeshot-circtdla-1874.