COSMOPOLITAN SHIPPING CO. v. McALLISTER (337 U.S. 783)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 27, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 337 U.S. 783 · 69 S. Ct. 1317
- Decided
- June 27, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Precedent
- This decision overruled or formally altered earlier precedent
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. . This case, like Hust v. Moore-McCormack Lines, 328 U. S. 707, and Caldarola v. Eckert, 332 U. S. 155, presents questions concerning the liability for injury to third persons of a general- agent who, under the terms of the wartime standard form of agency agreement, GAA 4-4-42, manages certain phases of the business of ships owned by the United States and operated by the War Shipping Administration. More specifically the issue raised by these facts is whether such a general agent is liable under § 33 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, known as the Jones Act, to a member of the crew who suffered physical injury through the negligence of the master and officers of such a vessel, when the injury occurred after March 24, 1943, the date of enactment of the War Shipping Administration (Clarification) Act. Respondent was procured from the union hiring hall by petitioner in accordance with the terms of the standard agreement and made available to the master for employment by him. The master is designated by the contract as an agent and employee of the United States. In July of 1945 respondent was signed on the S. S. Edward B. Haines at New York by the master of that vessel as second assistant engineer. In the space on the shipping articles entitled “Operating Company on this Voyage” there was written “Cosmopolitan Shipping Co.,…
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