Docket No. 2205.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Fred J. Milford,
Claimant,
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.
Fred J. Milford, a naturalized American national, then 26 years of age, was a passenger on the torpedoed Lusitania en route to visit his father in England. When the ship went down he was thrown into and remained in the water approximately an hour before being rescued. He suffered greatly from cold, exposure, and general shock. He remained in England about 20 days and then returned to his home in Hancock, Michigan, where he was employed as a life-insurance agent. At that time his income from his personal services approximated $2,500 per annum. The record indicates that the claimant is suffering from diabetes caused by the injuries he sustained in the Lusitania disaster. In combating this disease he has lost much time and incurred considerable expense.
The claimant had with him on the Lusitania personal effects belonging to him of the value of $281 which were lost.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts in this case 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 Fred J. Milford the sum of eleven thousand five hundred dollars ($11,500.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and the further sum of two hundred eighty-one dollars ($281.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from May 7, 1915.
Done at Washington January 7, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated December 17, 1924.
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