Maryland Port Administration v. SS American Legend
Decision Date | 03 July 1978 |
Docket Number | Civ. No. H-77-223. |
Citation | 453 F. Supp. 584 |
Parties | MARYLAND PORT ADMINISTRATION, Plaintiff, v. SS AMERICAN LEGEND, in rem United States Lines, Inc., I. T. O. Corporation of Baltimore, SS ALBERT MAERSK, in rem A/S D/S Svendborg and D/S af 1912 A/S Maersk Line Agency, Inc. and John T. Clark and Son of Maryland, Inc., Defendants. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Maryland |
Robert L. Ferguson, Jr., Allen, Thieblot & Alexander, Frederick G. Savage, Robert R. Winter, Asst. Atty. Gen. of Md., of Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.
Kieron F. Quinn, John H. West, III, and Ober, Grimes & Shriver, Baltimore, Md., for defendants SS AMERICAN LEGEND and U. S. Lines, Inc.
Donald A. Krach, Barrett W. Freedlander and Niles, Barton & Wilmer, Baltimore, Md., for defendant I. T. O. Corp. of Baltimore.
David W. Skeen and Skeen & Roach, Baltimore, Md., for defendants SS ALBERT MAERSK, A/S D/S Svendborg and D/S af 1912 A/S, and Maersk Line Agency, Inc.
R. Roger Drechsler and Lord, Whip, Coughlan & Green, Baltimore, Md., and Francis J. Gorman and Semmes, Bowen & Semmes, Baltimore, Md., for defendant John T. Clark & Son of Md., Inc. ALEXANDER HARVEY, II, District Judge:
Presently pending in this case are numerous motions for summary judgment filed by the parties. Memoranda in support of and in opposition to the pending motions, together with voluminous exhibits and deposition excerpts have also been filed by the parties. After a review of these memoranda and other documents and after hearing argument in open court on some of the issues, this Court has concluded that all the pending motions should be denied at this time.
Plaintiff, Maryland Port Administration (hereinafter "MPA"), is an agency of the State of Maryland which owns and operates port facilities at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in the Port of Baltimore. This case arises out of a major accident which occurred at that terminal on March 21, 1976.
Briefly, it appears from the record that on that date, two container ships, the SS AMERICAN LEGEND and the SS ALBERT MAERSK, were berthed, or in the process of being berthed, in adjacent slips at MPA's facility and were in the process of being, or were about to be, unloaded through the use of MPA's container-handling cranes. The ALBERT MAERSK had docked at Berth No. 11 sometime during that morning, and at the time of the accident, was in the process of unloading containers through the use of two large cranes assigned to that berth, cranes Nos. 9 and 10. At the time of the accident, the AMERICAN LEGEND was in the process of tying up to the pier at Berth No. 12 and preparations were under way to begin using the two cranes assigned to that berth, cranes Nos. 11 and 12, for the purpose of unloading containers from the AMERICAN LEGEND.
At approximately 1:15 P.M., the two cranes assigned to the AMERICAN LEGEND were blown off the pier and into the water by a sudden high wind. At the same time, the two cranes assigned to the ALBERT MAERSK were blown down the pier, one crane striking the mast of the ALBERT MAERSK and the other striking the mast of the AMERICAN LEGEND. Needless to say, the movement of the cranes in this manner caused substantial physical damage to the two ships and to the two cranes that struck the ships, as well as the total loss of the two cranes that rolled into the water.
On February 15, 1977, MPA filed this suit under Rule 9(h), F.R.Civ.P. In its amended complaint, MPA named as defendants the following parties: (1) the AMERICAN LEGEND, in rem; (2) United states Lines, Inc., the owner of the AMERICAN LEGEND (hereinafter "U.S. Lines"); (3) ITO Corporation of Baltimore, the stevedoring firm hired by U.S. Lines to unload the AMERICAN LEGEND on the day of the accident (hereinafter "ITO"); (4) the ALBERT MAERSK, in rem; (5) A/S D/S Svendborg and D/S af 1912 A/S, the owners of the ALBERT MAERSK (hereinafter referred to collectively as "Svendborg"); (6) Maersk Line Agency, the ship's agent for the ALBERT MAERSK; and (7) John T. Clark & Son of Maryland, Inc., the stevedoring firm hired by Svendborg to unload the ALBERT MAERSK on the day of the accident (hereinafter "Clark"). The amended complaint is in three Counts: Count I seeks recovery under a theory of contract, based on certain MPA tariff provisions; Count II seeks recovery under a theory of tort, based on allegations of negligence; and Count III seeks recovery under a theory of contract, based on an alleged bailment.
The filing of the complaint and of the amended complaint led to a series of counterclaims, cross-claims and third-party claims filed by the various parties against each other. U.S. Lines has filed a counterclaim against MPA. This led MPA to file a third-party complaint against all the defendants other than U.S. Lines for indemnification. Svendborg likewise has filed a counterclaim against MPA, and MPA has likewise filed a third-party complaint against all defendants other than Svendborg for indemnification. Svendborg has also filed a cross-claim against its stevedore, Clark, and Clark has filed a cross-claim against Svendborg. U.S. Lines has filed a cross-claim against both its stevedore, ITO, and against Clark. Finally, Clark has filed a counterclaim against MPA.
Each of the parties has now filed at least one motion for summary judgment with respect to the various claims or defenses asserted by it. This has created some difficulty for the Court in organizing the motions, in view of the number of parties and the number of claims. Most of the motions, however, share common issues. So the Court, rather than attempting to discuss each motion individually, ruled that the hearing should relate to the issues raised by the various motions.
As the Court views these issues, there are three primary ones ripe for decision at this point: first, whether admiralty jurisdiction exists as to the claims asserted by MPA against ITO; second, whether the counterclaims against MPA are barred by the Eleventh Amendment and the doctrine of sovereign immunity; and third, the construction, validity and application of the tariff provisions on which MPA relies.
At the outset of the hearing, this Court denied the pending motions insofar as they raised issues of whether ITO was negligent, whether the accident was caused by an Act of God, whether the damages claimed by the ships were foreseeable, whether there was evidence of a bailment, whether the tariff was void under Maryland law, and other questions that were raised by the motions. These motions were denied on the basis of the case of Phoenix Savings & Loan, Inc. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, 381 F.2d 245, 249 (4th Cir. 1967).
Admiralty jurisdiction
ITO has moved to dismiss the amended complaint and for the entry of summary judgment on the grounds that the claims as to it are not within the Court's admiralty jurisdiction. The amended complaint against ITO states a cause of action in tort, for negligence, and in contract, for the alleged failure of ITO to honor its obligation under the risk of loss provision of the tariff. From the earliest times, courts have applied quite different tests for determining whether a tort action, on the one hand, and a contract action, on the other, are within the admiralty jurisdiction of a federal court. See 7A Moore's Federal Practice, ¶¶ .225 and .325 (2d Ed. 1977). Accordingly, the Court will analyze each cause of action separately.
As recently articulated by the Fourth Circuit in Whittington v. Sewer Const. Co., Inc., 541 F.2d 427 (4th Cir. 1976), there are three situations in which admiralty jurisdiction will attach in a tort action:
One who seeks to recover for injuries in a suit based upon admiralty jurisdiction must show (1) that his injuries occurred upon the navigable waters and had a maritime nexus, or (2) that the injuries were caused by a vessel in navigable waters or an appurtenance of the vessel, or (3) that the person injured was a seaman, a member of the crew of a vessel, injured in the course of his employment. 541 F.2d at 432.
Since this Court is satisfied that jurisdiction exists under the second test, it is not necessary to consider either the first or the third tests. The second test is based upon the Admiralty Extension Act, 46 U.S.C. § 740, which provides in part:
The admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States shall extend to and include all cases of damage or injury, to person or property, caused by a vessel on navigable water, notwithstanding that such damage or injury be done or consummated on land.
The language "caused by a vessel on navigable water" has been construed to encompass not only accidents caused by a ship itself but also accidents caused by an appurtenance of the ship and accidents caused by the ship's personnel while operating the ship. Gutierrez v. Waterman, 373 U.S. 206, 83 S.Ct. 1185, 10 L.Ed.2d 297 (1963).
Here, it is asserted by MPA that personnel of both ITO and U.S. Lines were negligent in the operation and supervision of the operation of cranes Nos. 11 and 12 and that this combination of negligence caused the damage to the cranes. In other words, MPA contends that ITO and U. S. Lines were joint tortfeasors.
The record here includes the deposition testimony of Captain Conlon, the master of the AMERICAN LEGEND, who testified that he had the authority to suspend unloading operations for reasons of safety and that he had received warnings of high winds on the morning of the day of the accident. This testimony establishes a factual dispute as to whether U.S. Lines was negligent in not suspending operations and whether it had a duty to suspend operations.
Thus, such evidence of negligence — and I am considering this evidence solely in the context of a motion for summary judgment — brings the action against U.S. Lines within the admiralty jurisdiction by virtue of the Admiralty Extension Act. See Gutierrez v. Waterman, supra. Plaintiff here relies on evidence that the ship is at fault by...
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