Docket No. 2492.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Cora Kessler and Osmond K. Fraenkel, Executor of the Estate of George A. Kessler, Deceased,
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
This case is before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the two National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
George A. Kessler, an American national, then 52 years of age, was a passenger on the torpedoed Lusitania. He was thrown into the water where he remained about four hours before being rescued. He suffered from shock and numerous contusions and bruises on his legs and body. He died in Paris, September 12, 1920, from “enlargement of the liver”. It is alleged that his death was caused by the injuries which he sustained in the wreck of the Lusitania, but the record wholly fails to support this allegation.
Mr. Kessler was an importer of champagne. He was a man of substantial means with an earning capacity of $750 per week. The injuries complained of wholly incapacitated him for attending to business for some six weeks and thereafter his business efficiency was partially impaired for a considerable period. The surgical, medical, and hospital expenses incurred by him were substantial.
The record is very unsatisfactory with respect to the value of the personal property belonging to him which was lost, including his wardrobe, jewelry, and cash. There is no room for doubt that Mr. Kessler owned and lost on the Lusitania jewelry of very substantial value. His wife, Cora Parsons Kessler, and Osmond K. Fraenkel were named as executors of his will, which was duly probated. The latter qualified and is acting as such executor. The decedent bequeathed his entire estate to his wife, who was at the time of his death and still is an American national.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by the record herein, the Commission decrees that under the Treaty of Berlin of August 25, 1921, and in accordance with its terms the Government of Germany is obligated to pay to the Government of the United States on behalf of Osmond K. Fraenkel as Executor of the Estate of George A. Kessler, Deceased, the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923; and further decrees that the Government of Germany is not obligated to pay to the Government of the United States any amount on behalf of the claimant Cora Parsons Kessler in her individual capacity.
Done at Washington February 18, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated December 22, 1924.
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