Warner v. The Bear, 7106-A.
Decision Date | 11 January 1955 |
Docket Number | No. 7106-A.,7106-A. |
Citation | 126 F. Supp. 529 |
Parties | J. G. WARNER, Libellant, and Charles G. Warner Co., Intervening Libellant, v. THE Gas Boat BEAR (Official C. G. No. 31-A-405), her engines, tackle, gear and equipment, and Edward T. Sarabia, Owner, Respondents and Third-party Libellants, McLean & Kristan, Insurance Agents, Third-party Respondents. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Alaska |
John S. Mansuy, Jr., Juneau, Alaska, for libellant.
John H. Dimond, Juneau, Alaska, for intervening libellant.
Mildred R. Hermann, Juneau, Alaska, for respondents and third-party libellants.
R. Boochever, of Faulkner, Banfield & Boochever, Juneau, Alaska, for third-party respondents.
These are actions in rem and in personam to foreclose maritime liens against the respondent vessel and to recover from the owner the amount claimed for repairs made to the vessel.
In his answer, the owner denies that the repairs were made at his request and alleges that they were made at the instance of McLean & Kristan, agents of the insurer. It appears from the third-party libel that the vessel was damaged by striking a submerged rock or reef; that McLean & Kristan authorized the libellants to make repairs, but that after the vessel was repaired, they notified the owner that the loss was not within the terms of the policy; that the policy was delivered by the insurer to the B. M. Behrends Bank, a mortgagee of the vessel, and that because the owner never had possession of the policy he was ignorant of its limited coverage.
By exceptions to the third-party libel, McLean & Kristan challenge the jurisdiction of admiralty over the subject-matter as well as the sufficiency of the claim interposed thereby. The first and third exceptions are clearly without merit; the second and fourth are inter-dependent and overlap to such an extent that a decision of the question of jurisdiction will necessarily dispose of the question of sufficiency.
The rule appears to be well established that the claim which furnishes the basis for impleader must be maritime in nature. Of this prerequisite Benedict says, Vol. 2, p. 537, Sec. 350:
See also Robinson on Admiralty, 22-26, Sec. 4, n. 25, and cases cited.
citing several cases which antedate the enunciation of the view prevailing in the Second Circuit, and the recent case of Eastes v. Superior Oil Company, D.C., 65 F.Supp. 998. It should be noted, however, that what the Court said in the case just cited in support of the minority view is dicta because of its conclusion that the contract on which the impleader action was founded was in fact maritime in nature. It follows, therefore, that according to the view prevailing in the Second Circuit, for which, incidentally, there is abundant authority, a third party may not be impleaded where the claim against him is not maritime in nature. Undoubtedly a contract to procure insurance is not maritime in character, 1 Benedict 138-9, Sec. 67; Marquardt v. French, 2 Cir., 53 F. 603; The City of Clarksville, 7 Cir., 94 F. 201, and hence will not support a petition to implead, The D. T. Gilmartin, D. C., 66 F.Supp. 382, 384. In the case last cited, the Court said:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
David Crystal, Inc. v. Cunard Steam-Ship Company
...contracts have been held to be not within the admiralty jurisdiction: A contract to procure insurance on a vessel, Warner v. The Bear, 126 F. Supp. 529 (D.Alaska 1955); a suit by a ship's agent seeking reimbursement of expenses, Cory Bros. & Co. v. United States, 51 F.2d 1010 (2 Cir. 1931);......
-
Bdl Intern. v. Sodetal Usa, Inc.
...insurance on a vessel was not within the court's admiralty jurisdiction. David Crystal, 223 F.Supp. at 293 (citing Warner v. Bear, 126 F.Supp. 529 (D.Alaska 1955)). Since that time, and after Exxon Corp. and Kirby, a federal district court in this circuit has found that a contract to procur......
-
Stanley T. Scott & Co., Inc. v. Makah Development Corp.
...this circuit have held that contracts to procure marine insurance are not within admiralty jurisdiction. Warner v. The Bear, 126 F.Supp. 529, 530-531, 15 Alaska 370 (D.C.Alaska 1955); Puget Sound Nav. Co. v. Puget Sound Tug & Barge Co., 75 F.Supp. 404 (W.D.Wash.1948). In a line of cases ext......
-
SYNDICATE 420, ETC. v. Glacier Gen. Assur. Co., Civ. A. No. 83-5787
...16 F.2d 372 (9th Cir.1926); Frank B. Hall & Co. v. S.S. SEAFREEZE ATLANTIC, 423 F.Supp. 1205, 1209 (S.D.N.Y.1976); Warner v. THE BEAR, 126 F.Supp. 529, 1 Alaska 370 (D.C.1955). Thus, the Cover Note and the representations which form the basis of the plaintiff's claims against these defendan......