Docket No. 2247.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Dora Burke,
Claimant,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
This case is before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
Ernest James Burke, a British national 49 years of age, went down with the Lusitania. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and a daughter, Alice, then 41 and 15 years of age respectively, both British nationals, and also by a daughter, Dora, then 6 years of age, who was born in and continues to reside in the United States as a member of her mother’s household. No claim is here put forward on behalf of the decedent’s widow and daughter Alice. The affidavit of the widow, Elizabeth Burke, appearing in the record recites that, “An award has been made by the British Reparation Commission, for the benefit of the deponent and Alice Burke, but not for claimant Dora Burke, and no claim was made to the British Commission because of claimant’s American citizenship.” The tribunal referred to as the British Reparation Commission is doubtless the “Royal Commission on Compensation for Suffering and Damage by Enemy Action” within Annex I to Section I of Part VIII of the Treaty of Versailles (see this Commission’s Decisions and Opinions, page 210 and especially note 5). Notwithstanding the British nationality of the decedent, a claim may be here put forward on behalf of Dora Burke for such damages as she may have sustained, measured by pecuniary standards, resulting from the death of her father (see Administrative Decision No. VI, Decisions and Opinions of this Commission, pages 208-211, inclusive).
The decedent was a machinist and as such earned from $1,200 to $1,900 per annum. He also taught music, thereby supplementing his income. His daughter Dora, at the tender age of 6 years, was deprived not only of his support but of his training, direction, and supervision of her education.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion, in Administrative Decision No. VI, 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 Dora Burke 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.
Done at Washington February 25, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated February 11, 1925.
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