Docket No. 406.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Carlos M. Fisher, Administrator of the Estate of Mary I. Hurley, Deceased,
Claimant,
v.
GERMANY.
Docket No. 620.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Joseph Hurley and Elizabeth Hurley,
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
These two cases, which have been considered and will be disposed of together, are before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the two National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
It appears from the record that Charles E. Hurley, a native American citizen, 33 years of age, took third-cabin passage upon and apparently was lost with the Lusitania. His widow, Mary I. Hurley, a native of Nova Scotia, then 34 years of age, survived him until December 27, 1919, when she died intestate. She was survived by her parents, James H. and Louise Sweinimer, her sole heirs-at-law, who were at the time of her death British subjects, and who were naturalized as American citizens on June 27, 1922.
A claim is put forward on behalf of Carlos M. Fisher, Administrator of the Estate of Mary I. Hurley, Deceased, for damages sustained by Mrs. Hurley resulting from the death of her husband on the Lusitania and the loss of his personal effects, the latter valued at $100. In the second case a claim is put forward on behalf of Joseph and Elizabeth Hurley, the surviving parents of Charles E. Hurley, deceased, naturalized as American citizens in 1886.
It appears from the records that Charles E. Hurley married Mary I. Sweinimer September 20, 1905; that they lived together in a rented tenement at Brockton, Massachusetts, where Hurley was employed as a shoecutter, earning from $6 to $19.50 per week, which was barely enough to sustain himself and wife; that his wife was named as beneficiary in a policy of insurance of $1,000 on his life, which amount was paid to her and was all which she had to sustain her following his death. He left no issue. Under the statutes of Massachusetts the widow was the sole heir-at-law of Charles E. Hurley, his estate being of a value of less than $5,000. The claim for the value of personal effects lost with him on the Lusitania, which would be payable to his estate, would therefore pass to his widow as sole beneficiary and on her death to her parents as her heirs-at-law. These parents were, however, at the time of her death, British subjects.
Charles E. Hurley was survived not only by his parents but by seven brothers and sisters. No claim is put forward on behalf of the latter. He did not reside with or contribute to the support of his parents and they could not reasonably have anticipated that he would do so in the future.
On this state of the record it follows that Mary I. Hurley, the widow of the decedent, was the only person who suffered damages, measured by pecuniary standards, resulting from his death. On her death, December 27, 1919, whatever claim survived her passed to her sole heirs-at-law, who were then British subjects.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion, in Administrative Decision No. V., and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts in these cases as disclosed by the 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 not obligated to pay to the Government of the United States any amount on behalf of any of the claimants herein.
Done at Washington January 14, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated September 23, 1924.
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