Docket No. 430.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Elizabeth McKechan
Claimant,
v.
GERMANY.
Docket No. 431.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Robert McKechan, individually and as Administrator of the Estate of James McKechan, Deceased, Elizabeth McKechan, Martha McKechan, Anna McKechan, and Estate of Campbell Ballantyne McKechan, Deceased,
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
Docket No. 432.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Robert McKechan, individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Campbell Ballantyne McKechan, Deceased, Elizabeth McKechan, Martha McKechan, Anna McKechan, and Elizabeth McKechan (2d),
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
The three related cases numbered and styled as above are before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the two National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement. They have been considered and will be disposed of together. A brief statement of the facts as disclosed by the records follows:
Elizabeth McKechan, then 32 years of age, an American national through the naturalization of her husband, together with her son James, 6 years of age, and her son Campbell, 10 months of age, were passengers on the Lusitania when it was destroyed May 7, 1915. As a result of such destruction Mrs. McKechan sustained personal injuries and lost personal property, the latter of the value of $1,200.00. Her son James was lost and her son Campbell received personal injuries from the effect of which he died September 15, 1915, following a lingering illness and after having been brought back to America by his mother.
When Mrs. McKechan took passage on the Lusitania she left behind her a husband, Robert McKechan, then 33 years of age, secretary of a cooperative society conducting a general mercantile establishment at Gillespie, Illinois, and two daughters, Martha and Anna, aged 13 and 10 years respectively. Another daughter, Elizabeth (2d), has since been born to her – on June 9, 1916.
Following the torpedoing of the Lusitania, Mrs. McKechan’s experiences were most distressing. That she suffered and long continued to suffer mental anguish in an acute form there can be no doubt, and this has left its impress on her mind and nervous system. She also sustained personal injuries of a more or less serious nature, including an injury to a knee from which she has never entirely recovered. Prior to this experience she was strong and well, performing without effort all of her own housework. The record, however, fails to disclose any permanent injury to her, save possibly the injury to her knee.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by these records, 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 (1) Robert McKechan the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and (2) Elizabeth McKechan the sum of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and the further sum of one thousand two hundred dollars ($1,200.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from May 7, 1915. It is further decreed that the Government of Germany is not obligated to pay to the Government of the United States any amount on behalf of the other claimants herein.
Done at Washington February 21, 1924.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated February 14, 1924.
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