Moeller v. Mulvey
| Decision Date | 27 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | Civil No. 6-95-100. |
| Citation | 959 F.Supp. 1102 |
| Parties | Gary MOELLER and Dan Hall, Petitioners, v. Mark MULVEY, Ballard's Resort, Inc., The Heirs and Next-of-Kin of George Coe, Stanley Krueger, Randall W. Audette, and all others having claims, Respondents. The HEIRS and Next-of-Kin OF George COE, and Stanley Krueger, Cross-Claimants, v. Mark MULVEY and Ballard's Resort, Inc., Cross-Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
Christopher D. Robinson, Askegaard & Robinson, Brainerd, MN, for Gary Moeller, Dan Hall.
David Edward Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Law Office, Duluth, MN, for Mark Mulvey.
Thomas Raymond Thibodeau, Johnson Killen Thibodeau & Seiler, Duluth, MN, for Ballard's Resort Inc.
Gregory J. Griffiths, Dunlap & Seeger, Rochester, MN, Joseph V. Ferguson, III, Clure Eaton Butler Michelson Ferguson & Person, Duluth, MN, for George Coe Heirs and Stanley Krueger.
Timothy Harrison Dodd, Dodd Law Office, Minneapolis, MN, Douglas Paul Radunz, Radunz Law Office, Minneapolis, MN, for Randall W. Audette.
Before the Court is Defendant Ballard Resort, Inc.'s Request for Reconsideration of the Report and Recommendation ("R & R") of Magistrate Judge Raymond L. Erickson, dated October 28, 1996.
Construing the Request as Objections to the Report and Recommendation, the Court has conducted a de novo review of the entire R & R. Based upon this de novo review, and upon all of the files, records and proceedings herein, IT IS ORDERED that the Request for Reconsideration (Doc. No. 39) is DENIED and the Report and Recommendation (Doc. No. 36) is ADOPTED.
This matter is scheduled for trial before the Court, without a jury, in Duluth, Minnesota at 9:00 a.m. on December 16, 1996. It is referred to Magistrate Judge Erickson for the purpose of an expedited settlement conference at such time, location and under such conditions as Magistrate Judge Erickson shall direct.
At Duluth, in the District of Minnesota, this 28th day of October, 1996.
This matter came before the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to a general assignment, made in accordance with the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B), upon the Petitioner Dan Hall's ("Hall's") Motion for Summary Judgment.
A Hearing on the Motion was conducted on September 3, 1996, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, at which time the Petitioners Hall and Gary Moeller ("Moeller") appeared by Christopher D. Robinson, Esq.; the Respondent Mark Mulvey ("Mulvey") appeared by D. Edward Fitzgerald, Esq.; the Respondent Ballard's Resort, Inc. ("Ballard's Resort") appeared by Thomas R. Thibodeau, Esq.; the Respondent Heirs and Next-of-Kin of George Coe ("Coe Heirs"), and Stanley Krueger ("Krueger"), appeared by Gregory J. Griffiths, Esq.; and the Respondent Randall W. Audette ("Audette") appeared by Timothy H. Dodd, Esq.
For reasons which follow, we recommend that the Motion be granted.
Hall and Moeller are the joint owners of a 1994 Lund Pro-V fishing boat. Deposition of Dan Hall, at 8. The purchase price of the craft was $12,500.00, and both men owned an equal interest in the boat—that is, a $6250.00 in the boat. Id. Hall and Moeller had reached no formal arrangement for apportioning their use of the boat but, instead, they made use of the craft on a "first-come, first-served" basis. Affidavit of Dan Hall, at ¶ 9. Moeller is an employee of Ballard's Resort, see, Deposition of Gary Moeller, at 8-9, and, on the morning of October 15, 1994, he guided two guests of the Resort—Krueger and George Coe ("Coe")—on a duck hunting venture, and undertook to transport them on the Lund Pro-V. Id., at 25-26. While travelling on the Rainy River, which serves as an international border water, between the United States and Canada, see, Affidavit of Dan Hall, at ¶ 5, the Lund Pro-V collided with The Nunsea III, a watercraft that is owned by Mulvey. Deposition of Gary Moeller, at 32-33; Pretrial Statement of Mark Mulvey.
As a result of the collision, Coe was killed, and both Krueger and Audette—who was a passenger on The Nunsea III—were injured. Concise Statement of the Case of The Heirs and Next-of-Kin of George Coe and Stanley Krueger, at 2; Concise Statement of the Case of Randall Audette, at 1; Pretrial Statement of Mark Mulvey. Hall is not an employee of Ballard's Resort, and the Record is undisputed that he had no prior knowledge of, nor any involvement with, the hunting junket. Affidavit of Dan Hall, at ¶¶ 8-9; Deposition of Gary Moeller, at 51. According to Hall, prior to the accident on October 15, 1994, the Lund Pro-V was in good condition, and was properly equipped for operation on the waters in which the collision occurred. Id., at ¶ 7.
Invoking this Court's admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, see, Title 28 U.S.C. § 1333(1), Hall and Moeller filed a Petition, on June 2, 1995, pursuant to Title 46 U.S.C.App. § 185, in which they sought an exoneration from, or a limitation on, their liability for the collision between the Lund Pro-V and The Nunsea III. In conjunction with their Petition, Hall and Moeller deposited, with the Clerk of Court, the sum of $15,000.00, which was the estimated value of the Lund Pro-V. Accordingly, on June 7, 1995, a Monition was issued, under the Seal of this Court, against all persons who were claiming damages for any and all loss, damage or injury that was caused by, or resulted from, the boat accident. By this Monition, the potential claimants were directed to appear before the Court, at or before 4:00 o'clock p.m., on July 15, 1995, in order to submit proof of their claimed losses. Notice of the Monition was published in the Baudette Region and, in addition, on June 7, 1995, the Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order, which stayed and restrained the further prosecution of a State Court proceeding, which was filed by Audette against Hall, Moeller, and the others who were implicated in the collision, and which continues to pend in the Minnesota District Court for Lake of the Woods County. In responding to the Monition, the Respondents have duly filed their claims with the Court, and Krueger, and the Coe Heirs, have also filed cross-claims, sounding in negligence, against both Ballard's Resort and Mulvey.
In his Motion for Summary Judgment, Hall seeks a ruling which would limit his liability, for the accident between the Lund Pro-V and The Nunsea III, to $6,250.00, which is the value of his ownership interest in the Lund Pro-V. In opposing this Motion, the Respondents have argued that the Lund Pro-V is not a "vessel," as that term is defined in the applicable provisions of the admiralty and maritime law. See, Title 46 U.S.C.App. § 183.
The resolution of this Motion is governed by the terms of Title 46 U.S.C.App. § 183(a) which, as here pertinent, provides as follows:
The liability of the owner of any vessel, whether American or foreign, for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction by any person of any property, goods, or merchandize shipped or put on board of such vessel, or for any loss, damage or injury by collision, or for any act, matter, or thing, loss, damage, or forfeiture, done, occasioned, or incurred, without any privity or knowledge of such owner or owners, shall not * * * exceed the amount or value of the interest of such owner in such vessel, and her freight then pending.
This Statute serves as but one aspect of the Limitation of Liability Act, see, Title 46 U.S.C.App. §§ 181 et seq., which was originally enacted in 1851, see, Norwich Co. v. Wright, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 104, 20 L.Ed. 585 (1871), and which was intended to protect and foster the Nation's commercial shipping industry. As the Supreme Court has explained:
The great object of the law was to encourage ship-building and to induce capitalists to invest money in this branch of industry. Unless they can be induced to do so, the shipping interests of this country must flag and decline. Those who are willing to manage and work ships are generally unable to build and fit them. They have plenty of hardiness and personal daring and enterprise, but they have little capital. On the other hand, those who have capital, and invest it in ships, incur a very large risk in exposing their property to the interests of the sea, and to the management of seafaring men, without making them liable for additional losses and damages to an indefinite amount. How many enterprises in mining, manufacturing, and internal improvements would be utterly impracticable if capitalists were not encouraged to invest in them through corporate institutions by which they are exempt from personal liability, or from liability except to a limited extent? The public interests require the investment of capital in shipbuilding, quite as much as in any of these enterprises.
Norwich Co. v. Wright, supra at 121.
While, in the intervening years, Section 183 has been amended several times, with the most recent amendment having been enacted in 1984, the language of Section 183(a) remains largely the same as when it was originally promulgated.
In order to succeed in his Motion for Summary Judgment, Hall must satisfy three elements.2 First, he must demonstrate that the collision between The Nunsea III and the Luzid Pro-V occurred on a "navigable waterway," over which this Court's general admiralty and maritime jurisdiction extends. See, Three Buoys Houseboat Vacations U.S.A. v. Morts, 921 F.2d 775, 778-79 (8th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 898, 112 S.Ct. 272, 116 L.Ed.2d 224 (1991). Second, Hall must prove that the collision occurred without his "privity cr knowledge." Title 46 U.S.C.App. § 183(a); see also, Baldassano v. Larsen, 580 F.Supp. 415, 420 (D.Minn.1984). Finally, the Lund Pro-V must be a "vessel," as that term is employed within Section 133(a). Id.
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