Desper, Administratrix, v. Starved Rock Ferry Co. (342 U.S. 187)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 2, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 342 U.S. 187 · 72 S. Ct. 216
- Docket
- No. 231
- Argued
- December 6, 1951
- Decided
- January 2, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Jackson (R.H.)
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed
- Dissenting
- Justice Douglas, Justice Black
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Jackson delivered .the opinion of the Court. Petitioner brought suit under the Jones Act to recover damages for the death of her intestate son from injuries sustained during the. course of his employment by respondent. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the judgment of the District Court entered on a jury’s verdict in petitioner’s favor. This Court granted certiorari. Respondent operates a small fleet of sightseeing motorboats on the Illinois River in the vicinity of Starved Rock. The boats are navigated under Coast Guard regulations by personnel licensed by the Department of Commerce. Operations are necessarily restricted to summer months. Each fall the boats are beached and put up on blocks for the winter. In the spring each is overhauled before being launched for the season. The decedent, Thomas J. Desper, Jr., was first employed by respondent in .April, 1947, to help prepare the boats for their seasonal launching. In June of the same year he acquired the necessary operator’s license from the Department of Commerce and, for the remainder of that season, he' was employed as a boat operator. When the season, closed, he helped take the boats out of the water and block them up for the winter. His employment terminated December 19, 1947. Desper was re-employed March 15, 1948. There was testimony that he was then engaged for the season and was .to…
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