Matson Nav. Co. v. War Damage Corp.

While en route from the Hawaiian Islands to the continental United States, on December 11, 1941, the Matson ship LAPIAINA was sunk by a Japanese submarine. In this suit the owner sought to recover from the War Damage Corporation the value of the ship, its theory being that protection for the loss was afforded by § 5g of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Act. Recovery was denied below, and the Matson Company appeals.

Section 5g was added to the Reconstruction Finance Act by way of amendment on March 27, 1942, 56 Stat.L. 175. It authorized the War Damage Corporation to provide, not later than July 1, 1942, insurance protection against loss or damage to property, real and personal, as a result of enemy attack, subject to such general exceptions as the Corporation might deem advisable, upon the payment of premiums or charges to be fixed. The insurance protection, so far as here important, was to apply only (1) to such property situated in the United States, the Philippine Islands, the Canal Zone, and the Territories and possessions of the United States, and (2) “to such property in transit between any points located in any of the foregoing.” In the interval pending the effective…