Acciai Speciali Terni Usa, Inc. v. M/V Berane, Civ.S-01-765.

• Decision Date: 05 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. Civ.S-01-765.,Civ.S-01-765.
• Parties: ACCIAI SPECIALI TERNI USA, INC., Plaintiff, v. M/V BERANE, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

182 F.Supp.2d 503

ACCIAI SPECIALI TERNI USA, INC., Plaintiff, v. M/V BERANE, et al., Defendants.

No. Civ.S-01-765.

United States District Court, D. Maryland, Northern Division.

February 5, 2002.

James D. Skeen, David W. Skeen, Wright Constable and Skeen LLP, Baltimore, MD, for Acciai Speciali Terni USA, Inc.

James W. Barlett, III, Alexander M. Giles, Semmes Bowen and Semmes PC, Baltimore, MD, for M/V Berane, Oktoih Overseas Shipping Ltd., Trans Sea Transport.

Kevin A. Dunne, Charles A. Diorio, Ober Kaler Grimes and Shriver, Baltimore, MD, for Transcom Terminals, Ltd.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

SMALKIN, Chief Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on a motion for partial summary judgment, filed by the plaintiff Acciai Speciali Terni USA, Inc. ("AST"), which seeks a declaration that the Hague-Visby Rules of Italy, rather than the U.S. Carriage of Goods by Sea Act ("COGSA"), 46 U.S.C.App. §§ 1300-1315, set the limit to the potential liability of defendants Oktoih Overseas Shipping Ltd. ("Oktoih") and Trans Sea Transport N.V. ("Trans Sea"). AST is seeking relief for cargo damage allegedly caused by Oktoih, the carrier, and Trans Sea, the charterer of the carrying vessel, through negligence and breach of contract. The issues have been well briefed by AST and Trans Sea, and no oral hearing is necessary.¹ Local Rule 105.6 (D.Md.).

BACKGROUND

The general facts of this case are not in dispute. Acciai Speciali Terni, S.p.A., engaged the carrier Oktoih to make a shipment of steel sheets and coils from the port of Civitavecchia, Italy, to Baltimore, Maryland, on board the M/V Berane. Oktoih in turn entered into a charter party with Trans Sea, which agreed to perform the actual carriage. The vessel departed Civitavecchia on April 18, 2000, and arrived in Baltimore on May 10, 2000. Trans Sea carried the steel under a bill of lading, whose contractual provisions govern the rights and obligations both of Trans Sea and of AST. See Wemhoener Pressen v. Ceres Marine Terminals, Inc., 5 F.3d 734, 738 (4th Cir.1993). AST alleges that Trans Sea received the steel cargo in good condition but delivered it damaged at the port of destination.² This admiralty action followed.

Clause 2 of the bill of lading, the General Paramount Clause, provides:

The Hague Rules contained in the International Convention for the Unification of certain rules relating to Bills of Lading ... as enacted in the country of shipment shall apply to this contract. When no such enactment is in force in the country of shipment, the corresponding legislation of the country of destination shall apply, but in respect of shipments to which no such enactments are compulsorily applicable, the terms of the said Convention shall apply.

Trades where Hague-Visby Rules apply.

In trades where ... the Hague-Visby Rules [] apply compulsorily, the provisions of the respective legislation shall be considered incorporated in this Bill of Lading. The Carrier takes all reservations possible under such applicable legislation, relating to the period before loading and after discharging and while the goods are in charge of another Carrier, and to deck cargo....

The bill of lading also contains Additional Clause B, entitled "U.S. Trade [and] Period of Responsibility," which states:

In case the Contract evidenced by this Bill of Lading is subject to the U.S. Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, then the provisions stated in said Act shall govern before loading and after discharge and throughout the entire time the goods are in the Carrier's custody.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and the moving party is entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. In Anderson, the Supreme Court explained that, in considering a motion for summary judgment, "the judge's function is not himself to weigh the evidence and determine the truth of the matter but to determine whether there is a genuine issue for trial." 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505. A dispute about a material fact is genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Thus, "the judge must ask himself not whether he thinks the evidence unmistakably favors one side or the other but whether a fair-minded jury could return a verdict for the [nonmoving party] on the evidence presented." Id. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505. In undertaking this inquiry, a court must view the facts and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom "in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion," Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), but the opponent must bring forth evidence upon which a reasonable fact finder could rely, Celotex Corp., 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. The mere existence of a "scintilla" of evidence in support of the nonmoving party's case is not sufficient to preclude an order granting summary judgment. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Here, there is no factual dispute, but only a question of law presented, which is amenable to resolution on summary judgment.

ANALYSIS

COGSA, the American version of the Hague Rules, applies ex proprio vigore "to all contracts for carriage of goods by sea to or from ports of the United States in foreign trade." 46 U.S.C.App. § 1312; see also id. § 1300; Rockwell Int'l Corp. v. S/S Koeln Express, 1987 A.M.C. 2537, 2539 (D.Md.1987). It applies likewise to charter parties, so long as bills of lading are issued under them. 46 U.S.C.App. §§ 1301(b), 1305. The Hague-Visby Rules, which the United States has not adopted, operate much like COGSA for shipments outbound from a signatory nation. They apply ex proprio vigore whenever bills of lading are issued in a signatory nation or carriage is from a port in a signatory nation. See Protocol to Amend the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law Relating to Bills of Lading, Feb. 23, 1968, 1977 Gr. Brit.T.S. No. 83 (Cmnd.6944) (entered into force June 23, 1977) (hereinafter the "Visby Amendments"), art. 5, reprinted in 3 Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Admiralty and Maritime Law 755-56 (3d ed.2001). Unlike COGSA, however, the Hague-Visby Rules do not apply compulsorily to shipments inbound to a signatory nation.³ Thus, for shipments to the United States from a nation that has enacted the Hague-Visby Rules, two statutory regimes apply compulsorily: the Hague-Visby Rules and COGSA. And so a legal Gordian knot has been tied. Congress, however, per proprium vigorem maiorem, has cut it effortlessly and with aplomb — United States courts must apply COGSA, when its terms so require, regardless where bills of lading were issued or whence carriage began. See Farrell Lines Inc. v. Columbus Cello-Poly Corp., 32 F.Supp.2d 118, 128 (S.D.N.Y.1997), aff'd sub nom. Farrell Lines Inc. v. Ceres Terminals Inc., 161 F.3d 115 (2d Cir.1998); Rockwell Int'l Corp., 1987 A.M.C. at 2539.

The bill of lading for the M/V Berane was issued under the charter party entered into between Trans Sea and Oktoih. Italy, the country of shipment, has enacted the Hague-Visby Rules. See AST Part. Sum.Jgmt. Motion, Exh. B. Nevertheless, because the shipment was bound for the United States, COGSA, with its $500 per package limitation of liability, not the Hague-Visby Rules, applies compulsorily to this bill of lading.

Although COGSA does not permit parties to a bill of lading to reduce the carrier's liability, 46 U.S.C.App. § 1303(8), it does allow them to agree to increase the carrier's liability beyond what COGSA requires. 46 U.S.C.App. §§ 1304(5), 1305; see also J.C.B. Sales Ltd. v. Wallenius Lines, 124 F.3d 132, 135-36 (2d Cir.1997), aff'g J.C.B. Sales Ltd. v. M/V Seijin, 921 F.Supp. 1168 (S.D.N.Y.1996). The Hague-Visby Rules raise the limit of a carrier's liability to $800, more or less, per package.⁴ To the extent that the carrier agrees to be bound by this more onerous liability limit, nothing in COGSA prevents it. Analysis of the language of the bill of lading itself, guided by rules of contractual interpretation and supplemented, when appropriate, by extrinsic evidence, may evince such an agreement. In the instant case, AST relies solely on the bill itself, especially the general paramount clause; Trans Sea points to the bill's U.S. trade clause and submits, in addition, its charter party agreement with Oktoih.

The general paramount clause of the bill of lading for the M/V Berane does not designate one law paramount. Instead, it marshals an omnium-gatherum of laws paramount, applicable to a variety of possible voyages. Thus: if the country of shipment has enacted the Hague Rules, then its Hague Rules govern; if the country of shipment has not enacted the Hague Rules, but the country of destination has, then its Hague Rules govern; if neither the country of shipment nor of destination has enacted the Hague Rules, then the Hague Rules as established by the international convention govern. Further (though arguably comprehended within the first scenario): "[i]n trades where" the Hague-Visby Rules "apply compulsorily," then the Hague-Visby Rules "shall be considered incorporated" in the bill. Obviously, the carrier did not draft this bill of lading specifically for the shipment at issue; it is a standard form contract.⁵ Nor is the use of such a form bill of lading surprising:

[I]n international shipping it is not uncommon for large carriers to use bills of lading with a hierarchical paramount clause like the one used [here]. This allows the carrier to use the same bill of lading form for all of its contracts, rather than having to work up a special bill for each individual shipment.

Z.K. Marine, Inc. v. M/V Archigetis, 808 F.Supp. 1561 (S.D.Fla.1992). Sophisticated shippers, such as Acciai Speciali Terni, S.p.A., no doubt understand that which of the various laws paramount is...