I have obtained a little more information about Burlingham and the liability issues in the American Titanic litigation. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes ruled that Titanic's owner, the Oceanic Steamship Navigation Company, was entitled to petition for limited liability under American law even though Titanic was a British steamship. The opinion is published at 34 S.Ct. 738 (1913), entitled Oceanic Steamship, et al. v. Mellor, et al. Holmes ruled, of course, in favor of the Titanic's owners. The opinion is still cited today as "The Titanic" opinion; in fact, I saw a 1990 opinion which cited it. Under American law, the owner's liability is limited to the salvage value of the ship plus freight revenue. In Titanic's case, this amounted to a pittance value of the lifeboats and miscellaneous other assets, approximately $100,000. Under British law, if that would have been applied, liability would be pegged to 8 pounds per thousand tons for property and 15 pounds per thousand pounds for loss of life. For a 47,000 ton ship, this would be a maximum of 705,000 British pounds, for loss of life, and approximately 350,000 pounds for loss of property, a total of approximately 1,000,000 pounds. Does anyone know the value of British pounds vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar in 1912? Thus, the British laws were more beneficial to recovery for claimants, who I understand filed claims which totalled approximately $16,000,000. I understand many claimants filed in Great Britain. I'm not sure if the petition for limited liability would apply, though, if the Oceanic Steamship Navigation Co. itself had been negligent somehow, in the manufacturer and preparation of the ship for passengers, as opposed to the Captain or First Officer having been negligent. The shortage of lifeboats would not have necessarily been negligent, because the provision was consistent with the Board of Trade's requirements. I would think principal
Bruce Ismay's actions in coaching
Captain Smith to go fast, despite the ice warnings, might be grounds to deny limited liability. In any event, according to my research, attorney Burlingham settled the case for $600,000. He didn't want to, but the White Star Line was losing "prestige" over it, so they settled. He said if he had known the war was coming he wouldn't have settled it.
Burlingham died at age 101. He was born in 1858, and remembered the New York draft riots during the Civil War, where some people were lynched. He says he remembers the black funeral drapings he saw in New York around the time of President Lincoln's assasination.
He was chums with Holmes, President Taft, Felix Frankfurter, and Benjamin Cardozo, and a host of famous lawyers, including Choate (first name escapes me). However, he really seems to have disliked Louis Brandeis.
