Docket No. 2571.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
on behalf of
Katherine S. Thorne and George R. Durgan, Administrator of the Estate of Catherine E. Willey, Deceased,
Claimants,
v.
GERMANY.
PARKER, Umpire, rendered the decision of the Commission.
This case is before the Umpire for decision on a certificate of the National Commissioners[a] certifying their disagreement.
Catherine E. Willey, an American national, 57 years of age, was a passenger and went down with the Lusitania. She was survived by her only child and sole heir-at-law, Katherine S. Thorne, then not quite 37 years of age, and then and now the wife of Robert J. Thorne, an American national. The decedent was divorced from Cameron L. Willey, the stepfather of Mrs. Thorne, in 1903, and since that time had been a member of her daughter’s household. Her divorced husband, who survived her more than a year, left a large estate. The decree of divorce provided that Mr. Willey, or in the event of his death his estate, should pay to his divorced wife alimony at the rate of $7,200 per annum. This alimony was promptly paid to the time of Mrs. Willey’s death when, under the terms of the decree, it ceased. From this alimony the decedent was wont to contribute to her daughter and her household substantial amounts in the way of presents and otherwise. The decedent and her daughter were constantly in each other’s company and unusually devoted to each other, and had the decedent lived she would have remained a member of her daughter’s household and continued her pecuniary contributions as well as assisted in the management of the household and in the rearing of her daughter’s four children.
In the recovery and transportation of the body of the decedent her estate incurred and expense of $810. The personal effects belonging to the decedent and which were lost with her were of the value of $6,100.
Applying the rules announced in the Lusitania Opinion and in the other decisions of this Commission to the facts as disclosed by the record herein, the Commission decrees that under the Treaty of Berlin of August 25, 1921, and in accordance with its terms the Government of Germany is obligated to pay to the Government of the United States on behalf of (1) Katherine S. Thorne the sum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from November 1, 1923, and (2) George R. Durgan, Administrator of the Estate of Catherine E. Willey, Deceased, the sum of six thousand nine hundred ten dollars ($6,910.00) with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent per annum from May 7, 1915.
Done at Washington January 14, 1925.
EDWIN B. PARKER,
Umpire.
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[a] Dated December 22, 1924.
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