Docket No. 2246.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Nels Johnson, individually and as Administrator of the Estate of Sven Johanson (Johnson), 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.
Sven Johanson (also known as Johnson), a Swedish subject 36 years of age, a third-class passenger, went down with the Lusitania. He had never married and his brother, Nels Johnson, the claimant herein, a naturalized American citizen, and his sister, Sigrid Johanson, a Swedish subject and resident of Salslund, Sweden, were his only heirs-at-law and next of kin.
There were lost with him on the Lusitania personal effects, including cash, of the value of $550. This property was impressed with the Swedish nationality of the decedent and can not form the basis of an award here on behalf of the administrator of his estate.
The decedent was not a member of the household of the claimant, Nels Johnson. There is not a syllable in the record indicating that the decedent had ever made or was likely to make to the claimant any contributions, in any form susceptible of measurement by pecuniary standards. The claimant has wholly failed to discharge the burden resting upon him to prove that he has suffered damages resulting from his brother’s death.
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 not obligated to pay to the Government of the United States any amount on behalf of the claimant, Nels Johnson, either individually or as Administrator of the Estate of the said Sven Johanson (Johnson), Deceased.
Done at Washington February 25, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated February 11, 1925.
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