Schrader v. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., 90-2598

• Decision Date: 24 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90-2598,90-2598
• Citation: 952 F.2d 1008
• Parties: Dorothy SCHRADER, Appellant, v. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE, INC., Royal Caribbean Ltd., and Royal Caribbean Corp., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1008

952 F.2d 1008

21 Fed.R.Serv.3d 918

Dorothy SCHRADER, Appellant, v. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE, INC., Royal Caribbean Ltd., and Royal Caribbean Corp., Appellees.

No. 90-2598.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted June 11, 1991.

Decided Dec. 26, 1991.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 24, 1992.

Kurt Odenwald, St. Louis, Mo., argued (David Helfrey, on brief), for appellant.

Leo Nelson, St. Louis, Mo., argued (Paul Lee, on brief), for appellees.

Before JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge, HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.

Dorothy Schrader appeals from the district court's entry of summary judgment against her in her suit against the Royal Caribbean Corporation. ¹ Schrader fell and was injured while on board the cruise ship "Song of Norway." She originally sued Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., the company that she believed operated the ship, alleging a maritime law claim as well as pendent claims. After the limitations period for filing suit had expired, she learned that the Corporation, not Cruise Line, Inc. operated the ship. She amended her complaint to add the Corporation as a defendant, but the district court entered summary judgment in the Corporation's favor on the ground that Schrader's suit was time-barred. Schrader appeals, arguing that her amended complaint naming the Corporation should relate back to the date of filing under Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(c) (effective until December 1, 1991), or that the Corporation should be estopped from relying on the time limitation. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

On January 29, 1988, an unsecured steel door on the "Song of Norway" swung open and startled passenger Schrader, who fell on the deck and broke her hip. Schrader's ticket did not explicitly identify the operator of the "Song of Norway," but it stated that in order to bring suit against the "carrier or vessel" for a personal injury, Schrader would have to notify the "carrier or its agent" of the claim within six months and file suit within one year of the injury. ² Though the word "carrier" is not defined by naming any corporate entity, the word "vessel" is defined as "any ship chartered, operated, or provided by Royal Caribbean Ltd., on which the Passenger may be traveling or, as the case may be, against which the Passenger may have a claim." The cover of the ticket simply bears the words "Royal Caribbean Ltd., A/K/A Royal Caribbean Cruise Line," and the ticket itself has a space for the passenger to sign the ticket and, above that space, the words: "Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc. General Sales Agent." The cruise departed from the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On June 30, 1988 Schrader's lawyers sent a letter addressed to "Port Agent Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines" in San Juan and Miami giving notice of Schrader's claim. The letter stated that the accident occurred on the "Song of Norway, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Inc." and that the letter constituted notice of Schrader's "claim against Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc." The letter referred repeatedly to actions taken by "the cruise line" in connection with the accident. Schrader's attorneys then checked with the Cruise Line, Inc. office in Miami, which assured them that the notice sent to Miami was sufficient.

In response to the June 30, 1988, letter, Schrader's lawyers received a letter from one Anthony Picciurro, stating that his firm, Southern Marine Claims Service, "normally represents this cruise line and their liability insurers in matters of this nature." The letter specifically purported to be on behalf of the owner and operator of the ship because it stated that "this letter ... [is] of course entirely without prejudice to any rights or defenses which the owners and operators of the M/S 'Song of Norway' may have in this matter." Some settlement discussions followed, but the parties never reached an agreement.

Schrader's lawyer filed an affidavit stating that before filing suit he "contacted the Florida Secretary of State's Office to determine the address of the registered agent for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc. and any other party with a similar or like name, including parties who had been identified in previous suits against either the cruise line or the ship itself.... I was also informed that there was no listing for I.M. Skaugen A/S, whom I believed to be the owner of the vessel, nor was there a listing for Royal Caribbean Ltd. a/k/a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, the only other party identified on the contract for passage."

Schrader filed suit on January 26, 1989, naming only Cruise Line, Inc. as defendant. She did not effect service of process on Cruise Line, Inc. until January 30, 1989, the day after the one year contractual limitation period expired. Cruise Line, Inc. filed an affidavit revealing that Cruise Line, Inc. was merely a sales agent and was not the operator of the "Song of Norway," and establishing that Royal Caribbean Ltd. was the operator at the time of the accident. Cruise Line, Inc. filed interrogatory answers indicating that Limited was dissolved on November 3, 1988, and its rights and obligations were assumed by the Corporation, a Liberian corporation. Schrader then amended her complaint to name the Corporation as defendant.

The Corporation filed for summary judgment on the grounds that Schrader had failed to bring suit against it within the one-year contractual limitations period. Cruise Line, Inc. also moved for summary judgment, on the ground that it was only the sales agent and had no part in operating the ship. The district court granted both motions. Schrader v. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., No. 89-0135C(A) (E.D.Mo. Feb. 13, 1990); Schrader, No. 89-0135C(A) (Aug. 15, 1990). Schrader does not appeal the August 1990 judgment in favor of Cruise Line, Inc.

Since the Corporation admittedly was not named as a defendant until after the one-year limitation period expired, the arguments in the district court focused principally on whether Schrader's amended complaint naming the Corporation could relate back under Rule 15(c) to the date Schrader first filed suit.

Rule 15(c) ³ provides in part:

Relation Back of Amendments. [Effective until Dec. 1, 1991.] Whenever the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to the date of the original pleading. An amendment changing the party against whom a claim is asserted relates back if the foregoing provision is satisfied and, within the period provided by law for commencing the action against the party to be brought in by amendment that party (1) has received such notice of the institution of the action that the party will not be prejudiced in maintaining his defense on the merits, and (2) knew or should have known that, but for a mistake concerning the identity of the proper party, the action would have been brought against the party.

Because Schrader did not notify either Cruise Line, Inc. or the Corporation of the fact that she had brought suit until after the contractual limitations period expired, the district court held that her claim against the Corporation could not relate back. Schrader, slip op. at 7-8 (Feb. 13, 1990). The district court cited Schiavone v. Fortune, 477 U.S. 21, 106 S.Ct. 2379, 91 L.Ed.2d 18 (1986), clearly the controlling case on the Rule 15(c) issue.

I.

On appeal, Schrader argues that her amended complaint should indeed relate back under Rule 15(c), for five reasons, none of which we find convincing.

First, Schrader distinguishes Schiavone by arguing that it was easy for the Schiavone plaintiffs to discover the proper defendant, whereas in her case the proper defendant was hidden in a "corporate maze." The Schiavone plaintiffs, like Schrader, mistakenly failed to name the correct defendant in the original complaint and failed to effect service on anyone until after the limitations period had run. 477 U.S. at 24-25, 106 S.Ct. at 2381-82. The Schiavone plaintiffs meant to sue the owners of Fortune magazine; they named as defendant "Fortune," which was not a legal entity, instead of "Time, Incorporated," the actual owner of the magazine. Id. at 22-23, 106 S.Ct. at 2380-81. Time, Incorporated, was identified as owner of the magazine in the very edition of the magazine that gave rise to the Schiavone claim. Id. at 28, 106 S.Ct. at 2383. The plaintiffs were unable to serve "Fortune," and so, after the limitations date had passed, they amended their complaint to name Time, Incorporated. Id. at 23, 106 S.Ct. at 2381. They served Time, Incorporated, within the time for service allowed by Fed.R.Civ.P. 4. The Supreme Court held that the amendment did not relate back because the plaintiffs had not given Time, Incorporated, notice of the suit before the limitations period expired. Id. at 30-31, 106 S.Ct. at 2384-85.

While the Supreme Court did note that the Schiavone case "was not a situation where the ascertainment of the defendant's identity was difficult for the plaintiffs," id. at 28, 106 S.Ct. at 2383, it is not at all clear that this fact was crucial to the Court's Rule 15(c) analysis. On the contrary, the Court's holding was that "[t]he linchpin [of Rule 15(c) ] is notice, and notice within the limitations period." Id. at 31, 106 S.Ct. at 2385. In fact, we held in Brown v. E.W. Bliss Co., 818 F.2d 1405 (8th Cir.), reinstated after rehearing, 831 F.2d 810 (8th Cir.1987), that Schiavone would not permit relation back under Rule 15(c) in a case in which the defendant corporations had been through a mind-boggling series of permutations and name changes, see 818 F.2d at 1406-07. In Brown there was evidence that the corporations' agents had misled the plaintiff about the name of the corporation they represented. Id. at 1409 n. 3. But cf. Hafferman v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 653 F.Supp. 423, 429 (...