Oscar M. Ulmann, Administrator-With Will Annexed of the Estate of Oscar Ulmann, Deceased v. Sunset-Mckee Company, a Corporation

This is a diversity case. Plaintiff-appellant, Oscar M. Ulmann, is a citizen of California as was the testator, Oscar Ul- mann, whom Osear M. represents as administrator-with-the-will annexed. The defendant-appellee, Sunset-McKee Company, is organized under the laws of the State of Delaware and does business in California. The amount in controversy ■is just over $3,000.

■ To make it clear which “Ulmann” is meant, the decedent, Oscar Ulmann, a former employee of the defendant company, is referred to as “Sr.” and his administrator,' Oscar M. Ulmann as “Jr.,” although there is no evidence that the two so designated themselves.

Ulmann, Sr. was employed as a salesman for the company for 23 years. He left the active service of the company on February 28, 1951, and he died on April 28, 1952. It appears that he had worked for the company in a territory in Northern California, in or near San Francisco.

Through the years of active work, Ul-mann, Sr., had no real written employment contract. Further, it is evident that the company had no general retirement plan of its own. Compensation, if any, after retirement seems to have been dependent, on whatever bounty the company desired to grant…