Nehring v. Steamship M/V Point Vail

• Decision Date: 22 May 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-3108,89-3108
• Citation: 901 F.2d 1044
• Parties: , 115 Lab.Cas. P 10,141 Curtis NEHRING, et al., Plaintiffs, John T. Adams, et al., Intervenors-Plaintiffs, Seafarers Trust Funds, Seafarers Welfare Plan, Seafarers Vacation Plan, Harry Lundberg School of Seamanship, Seafarers Hiring Hall Trust Fund, Transportation Institute, Intervenors-Plaintiffs, Appellees, v. STEAMSHIP M/V POINT VAIL, Defendant, Point Vail Company, Defendant-Claimant, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1044

901 F.2d 1044

1993 A.M.C. 244, 115 Lab.Cas. P 10,141

Curtis NEHRING, et al., Plaintiffs,

John T. Adams, et al., Intervenors-Plaintiffs,

Seafarers Trust Funds, Seafarers Welfare Plan, Seafarers

Vacation Plan, Harry Lundberg School of Seamanship, Seafarers Hiring Hall Trust Fund, Transportation Institute, Intervenors-Plaintiffs, Appellees, v. STEAMSHIP M/V POINT VAIL, Defendant, Point Vail Company, Defendant-Claimant, Appellant.

No. 89-3108.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

May 22, 1990.

Jack C. Rinard, MacFarlane, Ferguson, Allison & Kelly and David F. Pope, Tampa, Fla., for defendant-claimant, appellant.

Frank E. Hamilton, III, Frank Hamilton & Associates, P.A., Tampa, Fla., for intervenors-plaintiffs, appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Before HATCHETT and COX, Circuit Judges, and HENDERSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

COX, Circuit Judge:

Point Vail Company, defendant below, appeals from a judgment rendered against it in favor of the intervening plaintiffs Seafarers Trust Funds. Point Vail does not contest liability; rather, it contends that the district court erred in holding that the Funds could satisfy their judgment from a bond posted for release of the M/V Point Vail. Point Vail also appeals the denial of a post-trial motion in which it sought to have the judgment overturned and the case dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. BACKGROUND

In January 1984, the cargo vessel M/V Point Vail, owned by the defendant Point Vail Company, arrived in port at Tampa, Florida, at the conclusion of a scheduled one month voyage to American coastal ports. The crew was discharged and informed by the ship's master that there was no money to pay their wages. Shortly thereafter, the licensed crewmembers instituted an action in rem against the vessel, praying that she be arrested, condemned and sold to satisfy their claims for wages. The ship was arrested and placed in the custody of the United States Marshal. Subsequently, several parties intervened in the proceeding, including intervening plaintiffs Seafarers Trust Funds. ¹

The intervening Seafarers Trust Funds were established pursuant to collective bargaining agreements between the Seafarers International Union of North America, Atlantic Gulf Lakes and Inland Waters District, AFL-CIO (together referred to as the Seafarers International Union), and various shipping companies or associations representing shipping companies. Each of the five intervening trust funds is intended to provide a specific benefit for the unlicensed seamen who are represented by the Seafarers International Union. For example, the Seafarers Vacation Plan, funded by the Seafarers Vacation Fund, provides for the payment of Vacation Benefits as described in that plan. See Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 1. The Seafarers Hiring Hall Trust Fund pays for the operation, maintenance, expansion and replacement of union hiring halls and employment centers for the benefit of union seamen. See Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 4. The defendant Point Vail Company employed seamen represented by the Seafarers International Union and is a party either directly or indirectly to the agreements.

The nature of the contributions which Point Vail agreed to make is illustrated in the "Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement," which is Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 9. Although the specific amounts due to certain of the trust funds were modified by later agreements, that document reveals that Point Vail Company agreed to make contributions to the five funds at a fixed rate, calculated on a per man, per day worked basis and included provisions for penalties and interest. Deposition testimony admitted at trial disclosed that at the time the M/V Point Vail concluded its voyage in Tampa in January, 1984, the total contributions due to all plans on the per man, per day worked basis had increased to $52.69. Record on Appeal, vol. 9, p. 48.

The Seafarers Trust Funds presented an intervening complaint. At the time the Funds intervened in this action, the pertinent section of Local Rule 7.09, which applies to Admiralty and Maritime claims in the Middle District of Florida, read as follows:

(a) Whenever a vessel or other property is seized, attached or arrested in a proceeding and said property is in the hands of the Marshal, anyone having a claim against the vessel or property is required to present the same by intervening complaint filed in the case and not by way of original complaint, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Upon the filing of each such intervening complaint the Clerk shall forthwith deliver a conformed copy thereof to the Marshal who shall thereupon post such copy on the vessel or property, but the Marshal need not re-arrest or re-attach the vessel or property....

The Seafarers Trust Funds contended that their claims, for contributions owed by Point Vail Company on behalf of seamen represented by the Seafarers International Union and employed aboard the M/V Point Vail, presented maritime claims within the court's admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. Neither in their original intervening complaint ² nor in their later intervening complaint ³ did the Seafarers Trust Funds allege that the defendant could not be found within the district, as required by Rule B(1) of the Supplemental Rules For Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims. Rather, the Seafarers Trust Funds alleged that the defendant had no assets with which to respond to their claims within the judicial district. In both complaints, the Seafarers Trust Funds alleged that these claims were being brought in personam against the defendant Point Vail Company and in rem against the vessel. The complaints prayed that the arrest of the vessel M/V Point Vail, instituted at the behest of the licensed crewmembers who began the action, be maintained and that the vessel be condemned and sold to satisfy their claims for trust fund contributions.

Point Vail Company answered the initial intervening complaint on May 21, 1984, "as claimant of and on behalf of" the defendant-vessel. Point Vail Company asserted as one of several affirmative defenses in that pleading that "[t]he Court lacks in personam jurisdiction over POINT VAIL COMPANY," with no further explanation provided. In June, Point Vail Company answered the initial intervening complaint in its own behalf, entering a general appearance and not contesting the court's in personam jurisdiction over it. Similarly, on June 26, 1984, defendant Point Vail Company made a general appearance and answered the later intervening complaint of the Seafarers International Union and the Seafarers Trust Funds, again not contesting in personam jurisdiction. In its answer to the amended complaint of the Seafarers International Union and the Seafarers Trust Funds, filed on June 24, 1985, Point Vail Company specifically admitted that the court had in personam jurisdiction over it.

The defendant vessel M/V Point Vail was released after a bond, in the form ordered by the court, was posted by Point Vail Company to secure payment of certain claims. In its order providing for the release of the vessel under bond, the district court stated:

2. That the form for bond will be conditioned upon payment of any judgment entered against M/V POINT VAIL in rem and/or Point Vail Company, in personam, on a claim or claims of maritime attachment and garnishment and upon condition that this Order be incorporated in and attached to said Bond.

Record on Appeal, vol. 2, tab 78. This order did not bind Point Vail Company to pay any and every in personam judgment rendered against it, but only meritorious in personam maritime claims brought upon properly invoked attachment and garnishment proceedings. In their stipulation and joint motion seeking release of the vessel, the parties agreed:

5. That there is a dispute between the parties as to whether the complaint and intervening complaints, or any of them, constitute maritime attachment and garnishment actions against Point Vail Company, in personam, for which Point Vail Company should be required to post security.

Record on Appeal, vol. 2, tab 77. In light of the parties' stipulation, the court's order providing security as a substitute for the vessel contemplated a properly initiated claim against the vessel in the first instance. ⁴

Following a non-jury trial, the district court entered a judgment in favor of the Seafarers Trust Funds for unpaid employer contributions and ordered that the trust funds could satisfy their judgment out of the Vessel Release Bond which was posted by Point Vail Company to secure release of the vessel. Point Vail Company has appealed this judgment. First, Point Vail argues that the claims presented by the Seafarers Trust Funds were not within the district court's admiralty and maritime jurisdiction and therefore that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over them. Under this theory, the judgment rendered against Point Vail is a nullity. Alternatively, Point Vail asserts that the Seafarers Trust Funds have only in personam claims against the company and not in rem claims against the vessel. Because the Seafarers Trust Funds did not perfect maritime attachment under the requirements of Supplemental Rule B of the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims, Point Vail argues, the district court erred when it ordered that the Seafarers Trust Funds could satisfy their judgment from the security posted to release the vessel.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Jurisdiction to Hear the Intervening Claims

Point Vail Company asserted in the court below and argues on appeal that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate the intervening claims presented by the Seafarers Trust Funds. Point Vail contends that its agreements to make contributions to the various trust funds are not maritime contracts because the obligations "do[...