Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 01-3187 (REF: ALL CASES), SECTION "L"(4).
June 9, 2003.
ORDER REASONS
On Friday, June 6, 2003, the last working day before the commencement of trail in this matter, the Court entered an Order Reasons [Record Doc. No. 118] rejecting the proposed stipulation of claimants Claude Banks, Alan Dabney, Jadi Steward, and Daryl Billington (hereinafter "personal injury claimants"). The Court further declined to lift the stay prohibiting the claimants from proceeding against the petitioners in state court.
The Court noted in its decision that only the personal injury claimants had agreed to the proposed stipulation and that Crescent Ship Service, Inc. ("Crescent"), Dixieland Towboat Management, Inc. ("Dixieland"), and Lynchburg Shipyard ("Lynchburg"), who had filed claims in the other party's limitation proceeding seeking contribution and/or indemnity, had not agreed to the stipulation. Furthermore, the Court noted first that the Fifth Circuit's jurisprudence requires that all claimants must agree to stipulations before the stay in a limitation proceeding may be lifted and, second, that the Fifth Circuit has held that parties seeking limitation and contribution are claimants within the meaning of the limitation act. See Order Reasons entered June 6,2003 at 4-6 (quoting Texaco, Inc. v. Williams, 47 F.3d 765, 768 (5th Cir. 1995); In re Port Arthur Towing Co., 42 F.3d 312, 316 (5th Cir. 1995)).
The personal injury claimants then filed a supplemental stipulation [Record Doc. No. 115], arguing that the new stipulations cured any defects precluding this Court from lifting the stay. These claimants rely primarily on a decision from the Western District of Louisiana in In re Self, 172 F. Supp.2d 813 (W.D. La. 2001), in which the court approved similar stipulations. However, in In re Kirby Island Marine, L.P., 237 F. Supp.2d 753 (S.D. Tex. 2002), the district court concluded that the Fifth Circuit's jurisprudence clearly requires all claimants to agree to the stipulations before the stay may be lifted. Id. at 755-56. This Court agrees with the district court's decision in Kirby Island and finds that the personal injury claimants stipulations are not sufficient in this case. Accordingly, the Court rejects the proposed stipulations for the reasons stated above, as well as the reasons stated in its June 6, 2003 Order Reasons.