Joe Dragich and Van Camp Sea Food Company, Inc. v. Nikola Strika

This appeal is from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California sitting in Admiralty, in which the Libelant, Strika, was awarded wages, maintenance and cure from Appellants Dragich and Van Camp Sea Food Company. Appellants owned and operated the commercial fishing vessel, U. S. Liberator, upon which the Libelant had been employed. The appellants seek reversal on their claim that the evidence does not support the judgment.

As a result of pre-trial proceedings and other stipulations between the parties, only two issues of fact remained to be decided by the trial court. (1) Whether or not the Libelant fell ill while in the service of the vessel and left the vessel on account of such illness. (2) Whether or not the Libelant was discharged for cause. The second issue was raised by the appellants as a defense to Libelant’s allegation that he left the service of the vessel on account of his illness. It was stipulated that if the court held Libelant was entitled to recover, the amount of the recovery would be $8.00 per day for maintenance and cure, and $3,831.78 for wages. The trial court found in Libel-ant’s favor on the issues thus presented,…