Inger

The appellant filed a libel in rem and in personam in admiralty against the Japanese motorship “Kanto Maru”, and her owners, Harada Risen Kabushiki Kaisha, for injuries sustained by the steamship “Ingeren”, owned by the libelant, on February 5, 1939, by collision with the “Kanto Maru” in the Straits of Shimonoseki in Japan. The “Kanto Maru” was seized while within the jurisdiction of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of California. Jurisdiction to proceed in that court was and is conceded, but the court, in the exercise of its discretion, declined to exercise jurisdiction and dismissed the libel. The appeal is taken from that order.

The owners of the “Kanto Maru” had filed a libel against the “Ingeren” claiming ' 430,000 yen as damages to the “Kanto Maru” from the same collision. This proceeding was pending in an admiralty court in Japan at the time the libel herein was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The respondents filed declinatory exceptions herein which were supported by affidavits. These exceptions were sustained by the District Court on July 31, 1939, which ordered a dismissal of the libel…