Kiribati Seafood Co., LLC v. Dechert, LLP, 1384CV02393-BLS2

Decision Date07 April 2016
Docket Number1384CV02393-BLS2
PartiesKiribati Seafood Company, LLC et al. v. Dechert, LLP No. 133283
CourtSuperior Court of Massachusetts

Kiribati Seafood Company, LLC et al.
v.
Dechert, LLP

No. 133283

No. 1384CV02393-BLS2

Superior Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk, Business Litigation Session

April 7, 2016


MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND MOTIONS TO STRIKE

Kenneth W. Salinger, Justice of the Superior Court.

Kiribati Seafood Company, LLC, has sued Dechert, LLP for legal malpractice in handling litigation in Tahiti over damage to a fishing boat. Many of Kiribati's claims and all claims by Olympic Packer, LLC have been dismissed. Dechert moves for summary judgment on Kiribati's remaining claims. Kiribati, in turn, moves for partial summary judgment as to Dechert's liability with respect to the disallowance by a Tahitian appellate court of $1.76 million that had been awarded for claims asserted by Kiribati as the assignee of its insurer's subrogation rights. Dechert also moves to strike parts of Kiribati's summary judgment affidavits. The Court concludes that the contested portion of Kiribati's affidavits must be stricken.

Dechert is entitled to summary judgment in its favor as a matter of law. First, Dechert's alleged negligence in protecting Kiribati's rights as assignee of its insurer's subrogation interest was not the proximate cause of the Tahitian appellate court's decision. The appellate ruling disallowing this portion of Kiribati's damages was based on an error of law. It was therefore a superseding cause that relieves Dechert of any liability for negligence. Second, Kiribati had to keep its damaged fishing vessel in Tahiti, and incurred substantial costs as a result, because the boat was seized as security for Kiribati's contractual obligations to its local agent. The undisputed facts show that these costs were not caused by any malfeasance on the part of Dechert. Third, Kiribati became liable for the fees and expenses of a receiver appointed by a Washington State court because Kiribati violated that court's order to pay an amount of money into a court account, and not because of any negligence by Dechert. Finally, since Kiribati's substantive claims all fail as a matter of law, Kiribati is not entitled to recover attorneys fees previously paid to Dechert and is also not entitled to seek any punitive damages.

1. Procedural Background

The claims in this case arise from legal work by lawyers at Dechert's Paris office who represented Kiribati and Olympic Packer, LLC in a lawsuit against the Port of Papeete, Tahiti. That underlying case concerned damage to a commercial fishing vessel owned by Kiribati and chartered to a joint venture involving Olympic Packer.

In this lawsuit, Kiribati and Olympic Packer claimed that Dechert was liable for mishandling the underlying litigation. Dechert moved to dismiss the amended complaint. Judge Roach denied the motion with respect to legal malpractice claims asserted under theories of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of contract, and aiding and abetting the alleged breach of fiduciary duty by Dechert's Paris office (counts I to IV). She allowed the motion to dismiss with respect to Plaintiffs' claims for spoliation of evidence, violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, and violation of G.L.c. 93A (counts V to VII). Plaintiffs later filed a second amended complaint restating the basis for counts I to IV, and dropping the counts that had been dismissed by court order.

Last year the parties stipulated to the dismissal of certain claims, with prejudice. The stipulation of dismissal identifies eight different theories of liability or recovery that have been dismissed with prejudice. One of the dismissed theories of liability was identified as " Olympic Packer's only remaining claim in the case."

Kiribati has identified five categories of alleged damages that constitute its remaining claims in the case. They are:

(1) Kiribati's loss on appeal in Tahiti of $1.76 million that had been awarded to Kiribati by the Tahitian trial court based on a subrogation interest assigned to Kiribati by Lloyd's of London
(2) Kiribati's liability for $900, 000 in mooring fees and related costs for storing and maintaining the damaged fishing vessel in Tahiti
(3) Kiribati's liability for $1.44 million in legal fees incurred in connection with Kiribati's receivership in Washington State
(4) the legal fees that Kiribati paid to Dechert (totaling $540, 000) and to Coudert Frères (totaling $340, 000) which is the law firm where the Dechert lawyers who represented Kiribati used to practice; and
(5) unspecified punitive damages under Pennsylvania law.

Dechert moves for summary judgment in its favor on all remaining claims. Kiribati cross moves for partial summary judgment as to Dechert's liability on the Lloyd's Subrogation Claim.

2. Undisputed Material Facts

Many of Kiribati's responses to Dechert's statements of fact assert that " Kiribati is unable to admit or deny this assertion, " without reference to any evidence. The Court deems those facts to be undisputed for the purpose of evaluating the cross motions for summary judgment. Cf. Dziamba v. Warner & Stackpole, 56 Mass.App.Ct. 397, 401, 778 N.E.2d 927 (2002). A statement of material facts served under Superior Court Rule 9A(b)(5) is an offer of proof, not merely a request for admissions. The responding party must do more than assert that a statement is denied or disputed, and cannot create a disputed issue by refusing or stating that it is unable to admit the matter. Rather, the party must also point to admissible evidence that contradicts the statement. " [M]ere assertions of the existence of disputed facts without evidentiary support cannot defeat [a] summary judgment motion." Bergendahl v. Massachusetts Elec. Co., 45 Mass.App.Ct. 715, 718-19, 701 N.E.2d 656, rev. denied, 428 Mass. 1111, 707 N.E.2d 1078 (1998), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 929, 120 S.Ct. 326, 145 L.Ed.2d 254 (1999).

The following are undisputed facts, as demonstrated in the evidentiary materials submitted in connection with the pending motions, or reasonable inferences that a jury could draw from those facts. The Court " must . . . draw all reasonable inferences" from the evidence presented " in favor of the nonmoving party, " as a jury would be free to do at trial. Godfrey v. Globe Newspaper Co., Inc., 457 Mass. 113, 119, 928 N.E.2d 327 (2010). It has done so.

2.1. Damage to the Madee and Tahiti Lawsuit

Kiribati bought and refurbished a fishing vessel that it named the Madee . Kiribati chartered the Madee to Olympic Packer and Dojin Co., Ltd. During its initial fishing voyage in December 2001, the Madee lost one of its rudders in the South Pacific Ocean. The Madee was brought to the Port of Papeete, in Tahiti, for repairs. Kiribati hired a maritime agent to represent its interests in Papeete. This agent arranged for the Madee to be placed in a dry dock owned by the Autonomous Port of Papeete (the " Port"). The dry dock collapsed, causing significant damage to the Madee .

Since the Tahitian courts are part of the French legal system, Kiribati and Olympic Packer hired two lawyers from the Paris office of the law firm Coudert Frères (Xavier Nyssen, a partner, and Karine Santoul, an associate) to represent them in litigation in Tahiti concerning the dry dock collapse. Coudert filed a lawsuit on behalf of Kiribati and Olympic Packer in February 2003 in the Commercial Court of Papeete. The suit was brought against the Port and others, and sought damages arising from the dry dock collapse. The Port asserted a counterclaim for unpaid moorage fees. Kiribati was also sued by the maritime agent for unpaid fees; that lawsuit was consolidated with the lawsuit between Kiribati and the Port.

The Commercial Court ordered the conservatory arrest of the Madee in order to secure the maritime agent's claim against Kiribati. This legal order barred Kiribati from removing the Madee from the Port of Papeete. It was in effect for ten years, from April 2003 until February 2013.

Kiribati was never able to get the Madee repaired. None of the shipyards in Tahiti agreed to submit a bid to repair the Madee . Shipyards in Mobile, Alabama, and Seattle, Washington, submitted repair bids. But Kiribati was unable to obtain a temporary International Load Line Certificate so that the Madee could proceed under its own power to another port for repairs. In any case, Kiribati could not afford to move the Madee to another port, and the Madee remained under conservatory arrest until February 2013.

Following the dry dock collapse, a Madee crew member named Steven Kleven served as the ship's custodian. Some years later Kiribati settled Kleven's claims for compensation by paying him $180, 000 and giving him title to three skiffs.

At the time of the dry dock collapse, the Madee was insured under a port risk insurance policy by Certain Underwriters of Lloyd's of London. The policy had a coverage limit of $1.2 million. Eventually Lloyd's paid Kiribati $1, 763, 803.71, including interest and possibly other amounts not subject to the policy limit. As a result, Lloyd's was subrogated to Kiribati's rights against the Port in this amount. Lloyd's joined as a plaintiff in the pending lawsuit in Tahiti in order to pursue its subrogation claim against the Port. In December 2004, Lloyd's assigned to Kiribati all of Lloyd's subrogation rights against the Port. It did so as part of a settlement agreement between Lloyd's and Kiribati concerning the Tahiti lawsuit and continuing claims by Kiribati under its policy with Lloyd's.

Dechert took over the representation of Kiribati in the Tahiti lawsuit in October 2005, when Nyssen and Santoul left Coudert and joined Dechert's Paris office. Nyssen and Santoul continued to represent Kiribati thereafter. Coudert never merged with Dechert, and Dechert never assumed any of Coudert's liabilities.

Throughout the litigation between Kiribati and the...

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