The case involved a Louisiana coal company and its affiliates suing the United States to recover over $3,700 in additional income and profits taxes assessed for fiscal years 1918 and 1919 on freight income from seven incomplete barge voyages that had been entered on the books before the voyages finished and most expenses were paid. The plaintiff argued its books should be treated as reflecting an accrual method, requiring deferral of the net income to the subsequent years when the voyages actually accrued. The court ruled for the plaintiff after finding that the adjustments would accurately complete an accrual accounting basis, that the Commissioner had failed to apply the statutory requirement to use a method that clearly reflects income, and that the Board of Tax Appeals decision rested on an incomplete record; it therefore held the assessments illegal and ordered a refund with costs.
The case involved a copyright infringement claim by Irving Berlin, Inc. against the operator of a dance pavilion who charged admission fees; the plaintiff alleged that a band hired by the defendant played three copyrighted popular songs without authorization on a specific date in 1926. The defendant admitted the performances but argued he was not liable because the band leader was an independent contractor and alternatively that any damages should be limited to $10 per song under the Copyright Act rather than the $250 minimum. The court held the defendant liable for authorizing the unlicensed performances in his for-profit venue, following established precedent that the operator of such an entertainment space bears responsibility regardless of the musicians' employment status. However, it ruled that the songs, as ordinary popular jazz compositions rather than dramatic or orchestral works, fell under the lower statutory damages category, awarding only $30 total.
The case involved the United States filing a libel of information against the Norwegian steamship Gansfjord for negligently colliding with and damaging a jetty wall, seeking recovery under sections 14 and 16 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. The court had previously overruled exceptions challenging its jurisdiction and the statute's constitutionality, and the claimant renewed those arguments on the merits. After a trial without a jury, the court found gross negligence by the master and pilot but held that the vessel's liability for damages to public works did not depend on proof of negligence or intent. It concluded that Congress had validly created a statutory remedy enforceable by libel in district court, allowing recovery for the full amount of damages regardless of fault. A decree was entered in favor of the United States.
In this admiralty case, a first assistant engineer on a U.S. government steamship was injured when a water gauge glass he had installed burst, causing loss of sight in one eye; he alleged the absence of a safety chain device to operate the valves from a safe distance made the vessel unseaworthy. The court found the shipowner liable for failing to provide a seaworthy vessel and safe appliances, a nondelegable duty, but also determined the plaintiff's contributory negligence in not protesting the missing device, requisitioning it, or supervising its installation before or during the voyage was the remote cause. As a result, the court applied a divided liability rule and awarded the plaintiff $3,000 in damages for the permanent partial injury, while denying claims for maintenance and cure due to his refusal of government medical care and finding no defect in the gauge glass itself.
This 1927 bankruptcy case involved a dispute between a first mortgage holder (Phœnix Building & Homestead Association) and a second mortgage holder over the referee's order allowing the first mortgagee to recover interest up to the date of sale, along with fines, penalties per its bylaws, and $400 in attorney's fees from the proceeds of the mortgaged real estate. The second mortgagee challenged these allowances, arguing that the mortgage note was not due at adjudication, no suit had been filed, and such fees were not provable under the Bankruptcy Act. On review and rehearing, the court held that section 67d governed the valid first mortgage, permitting interest and related charges up to sale when the security covered them, but reversed the $400 attorney's fee because the contractual 10% stipulation required legal proceedings that had not occurred before bankruptcy and the bankruptcy sale was not equivalent to foreclosure. The final decree affirmed the referee's order in part but vacated it regarding the attorney's fee.
The case involved a libel in rem filed by cargo owner Ayer & Lord Tie Company against the American steamship Silverbrook for shortage and damage to a shipment of creosote, with claimant Mountain Oil & Refining Company moving to stay the proceedings for arbitration in London pursuant to an arbitration clause in the charter party incorporated by reference into the bills of lading. The court denied the motion for a stay under the United States Arbitration Act of 1925, holding that the Act does not authorize a federal admiralty court to direct or supervise arbitration proceedings outside its territorial district. The reasoning centered on the limited jurisdiction of federal courts, the Act's requirements in sections 4 and 8 that arbitration hearings occur within the district where the petition is filed, and the inability of the court to enforce, vacate, or modify an award made in London.
