Docket No. 2263.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Benjamin Rinaldo, Executor of the Estate of Cherrie A. Myers, Deceased, Seligman A. Myers and Benjamin Rinaldo, Administrators of the Estate of Herman A. Myers, Deceased, Bella Myers Abrams, Florence Myers Oppenheimer, Seligman A. Myers, and the Estate of Mary A. Myers, 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 National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
Herman A. Myers, an American national 44 years of age, was a passenger on and was lost with the Lusitania. He was survived by his widow but no children. The widow, Cherrie A. Myers, was at the time of her husband’s death about 32 years of age. She died on January 20, 1922, leaving a will under which her brother-in-law, Benjamin Rinaldo, was appointed, qualified, and is acting executor of her estate.
Herman A. Myers was also survived by his mother, Mary A. Myers, then 68 years of age, who died on March 8, 1922; a sister, Lilly Myers, later Roth, then 46 years of age, who died on May 28, 1919; a sister, Elsie Myers Picard, then 40 years of age, who died on August 3, 1924; a sister, Florence Myers Oppenheimer, then 47 years of age; a sister, Bella Myers, and her twin brother, Seligman A. Myers, then 39 years of age.
No claim is put forward on behalf of the estates of Lilly Myers Roth and Elsie Myers Picard.
At the time of the death of Herman A. Myers he and his surviving brother, Seligman A. Myers, were engaged in the business of the importation and sale of artificial flowers and feathers in New York City. This business had been in existence only a few years. The decedent’s sole source of income was his interest in the net income from this business, which was comparatively small. Seligman A. Myers lived with his mother, Mary A. Myers, and his sister Bella, now Mrs. Abrams, while the decedent and his wife maintained a separate establishment. The decedent, however, with his brother Seligman did jointly contribute about $3,000 per annum to the support of their mother and their sister Bella. One-half of this amount was paid by the decedent and the other one-half by his brother Seligman. The decedent did not make, and there is no probability that he would have made, had he lived, and pecuniary contributions to his married sister, Florence Myers Oppenheimer, or to his brother, Seligman A. Myers, both claimants herein. On behalf of the latter as surviving partner of the firm of H. & E. & S. Myers a claim is asserted for loss of prospective profits to the business and for expenses incurred in reorganizing the business and the employment of additional salesmen, all alleged to have resulted from the death of Herman A. Myers. These damages, if any, are in legal contemplation too remote to supply the basis of an award against Germany under the Treaty of Berlin.
There was lost with the decedent property, including case and jewelry, belonging to him of the aggregate value of $1,000.
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 (1) Benjamin Rinaldo, Executor of the Estate of Cherrie A. Myers, Deceased, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.00), (2) the Estate of Mary A. Myers, Deceased, the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00), and (3) Bella Myers Abrams the sum of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00), with interest on each of said sums at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and (4) Seligman A. Myers and Benjamin Rinaldo, Administrators of the Estate of Herman A. Myers, Deceased, the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from May 7, 1915; 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 claimants Seligman A. Myers and Florence Myers Oppenheimer.
Done at Washington January 30, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated December 22, 1924.
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