Weade et al. v. Dichmann, Wright & Pugh, Inc. (337 U.S. 801)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 27, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 337 U.S. 801 · 69 S. Ct. 1326
- Docket
- No. 179
- Argued
- February 1, 1949
- Decided
- June 27, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice Douglas, Justice Black, Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court, On August 3, 1945, at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, petitioners, Mrs. Lillian A. Weade and Mrs. Roberta L, Stinemeyer, purchased tickets and embarked as passengers on the Meteor, a steamboat owned by the United States through the War Shipping Administration and operating between Norfolk, Virginia, and Washington, D. C. The ladies retired to their stateroom about 11:00 p. m. and because of the warm weather opened both the glass and the shutter of the window which faced onto the boat deck. During the night the second cook of the Meteor entered the stateroom through the open window and raped. Mrs. Weade, who was sleeping in the lower berth. -Mrs. Stinemeyer suffered fright and shock from witnessing this atrocity. The perpetrator of the crime was subsequently tried, convicted, and executed. This case involves the liability of a general agent to passengers under a contract similar to that discussed in Cosmopolitan Shipping Co. v. McAllister, ante, p. 783, decided this day. The agency agreement covered passenger boats through an addendum to the contract providing for additional services by the general agent. Petitioners, Lillian A. Weade and her husband, instituted a civil action for damages against respondent in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The husband alleged as his damages loss of…
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