Docket No. 2560.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Anna L. Stansfield, Thomas B. King, Jr., and Anna L. Stansfield as Executrix of the Estate of Thomas B. King, 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 two National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
Thomas B. King, a naturalized American citizen, 47 years of age, was lost with the Lusitania. He was survived by his wife, then 34 years of age, and by his only child, Thomas B. King, Jr., then nearly 12 years of age, both native American nationals.
The widow on August 23, 1916, married Samuel Stansfield, a British subject. By reason of this marriage and of the statutes of the United States and of Great Britain then in effect, she relinquished her American citizenship and became a British subject and so remained until February 18, 1924, when by naturalization she was readmitted to American citizenship following the death of her second husband, which occurred on January 24, 1923. For the reasons fully set forth by this Commission in its Administrative Decision No. V (Decisions and Opinions, pages 175 – 194 inclusive), the claim of Mrs. Stansfield for damages suffered by her resulting from decedent’s death does not fall within the terms of the Treaty of Berlin inasmuch as it was not impressed with American nationality when that Treaty became effective.
But the claimant Thomas B. King, Jr., was born and has remained an American national, and his claim for the damages he has unquestionably suffered resulting from his father’s death clearly falls within the terms of the Treaty of Berlin.
The decedent was a trusted employee who had long held an important position in a large mercantile establishment in the city of New York. For a period of five years prior to his death his salary averaged $7,280 per annum, in addition to which he received dividends amounting to approximately $2,000 per annum on stock which he held in the corporation by which he was employed. He was a man of good character and habits, physically strong, with good prospects for increasing his income. He expended approximately $6,000 per annum for the maintenance and support of himself, wife, and son and for the education of the latter, who lost the benefit of his father’s supervision and training.
The decedent left a will bequeathing his entire estate to his wife “for the term of her natural life and while she remains unmarried” with the remainder in trust for his son, the net income therefrom to be applied to his support and maintenance until he should attain the age of 21 years when the principal should be paid to him absolutely. Under the terms of this will the widow received the income from the decedent’s estate from the date of his death, May 7, 1915, until her remarriage on August 23, 1916, when, by her remarriage, relinquished all interest in her first husband’s estate as well as her American citizenship. She therefore has no personal interest in the claim for $1,500 put forward for the value of the jewelry and other personal effects belonging to the decedent and lost with him. This claim was in point of origin and has remained impressed with American nationality.
To the extent that contributions made to his son by the decedent during his life and those which would probably have been made to his son, but for Germany’s act causing the decedent’s death, were the direct fruits of the personal effects of the decedent whose producing powers were destroyed by his death, the son has suffered pecuniary damages which Germany is obligated to pay. But to the extent that such actual or probably contributions were derived as income from the estate of the decedent which vested in a trust estate for the use and benefit of the son and yielded to the son the income which it would have yielded to the decedent had he live, the son has suffered no pecuniary damages.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion, in Administrative Decision No. V, and in the other decisions of this Commission (especially Docket No. 2262, United States of America on behalf of Maud Thompson de Gennes, Decisions and Opinions, pages 215 – 219) 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) Thomas B. King, Jr., the sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and (2) Anna L. Stansfield as Executrix of the Estate of Thomas B. King, Deceased, the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500.00) 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 Anna L. Stansfield individually.
Done at Washington March 19, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated March 14, 1925.
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