Summary
holding that shipowner was entitled to limitation where sole and proximate cause of collision was spontaneous negligent navigation errors of master of tug, not master's fatigue
Summary of this case from McAllister Towing of Virginia, Inc. v. United StatesOpinion
No. 02-35534.
Argued and Submitted July 10, 2003.
Filed August 13, 2003.
Stanley L. Gibson, Gibson Robb Lindh, San Francisco, CA, for claimant-appellant Signature Seafoods, Inc.
Matthew Turetsky, Schwabe, Williamson Wyatt, Seattle, WA, for claimant-appellant International Specialty, Inc.
Donald K. McLean, Bauer Moynihan Johnson, Seattle, WA, for the petitioner-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-00-01842-JCC.
This admiralty action arises out of the collision in the Puget Sound between the Bowfin, owned by Western Pioneer, and the barge Lucky Buck, owned by Claimant Signature Seafoods. Western Pioneer initiated this Limitation of Liability Act proceeding following the collision. The district court held that Western Pioneer was entitled to limit its liability under the Act. We affirm.
46 U.S.C. app. §§ 181-196 (Supp. 2003).
The Limitation of Liability Act limits shipowner liability arising from the unseaworthiness of the shipowner's vessel or the negligence of the vessel's crew unless the condition of unseaworthiness or the act of negligence was within the shipowner's "privity or knowledge." The shipowner has the burden of proving that the act or condition was outside its privity or knowledge after the claimant first establishes what act or condition caused the loss. In this case, the district court found that the sole proximate cause of the collision was "spontaneous negligent navigational errors" of the master of the tug and not the master's fatigue (for which the Claimants urged Western Pioneer was responsible). That finding is not clearly erroneous.
Id. § 183(a).
See Carr v. PMS Fishing Corp., 191 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1999); Hercules Carriers, Inc. v. Florida, 768 F.2d 1558, 1563 (11th Cir. 1985); In re Brasea, Inc., 583 F.2d 736, 738 (5th Cir. 1978).
See Churchill v. F/V Fjord, 892 F.2d 763, 770 (9th Cir. 1988).
We reject the Claimants' contention that, by admitting that its master was at fault, Western Pioneer assumed the burden of negating its privity or knowledge of other acts by its master. The claimant retains the burden of proving what act caused the loss even if the shipowner concedes that its crew was negligent. The district court's finding resolved the limitation issues.
See Carr, 191 F.3d at 4.
AFFIRMED.