A LIMITATION OF LIABILITY ACTION MUST BE FILED WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF RECEIVING ADEQUATE NOTICE, OTHERWISE IT IS UNTIMELY.
P.G. CHARTER BOATS, INC., Plaintiff-Cross-Defendant-Appellant, versus JOHN S. SOLES, Defendant-Cross-Claimant-Appellee, QUALITY INSPECTION SERVICES, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 05-15395 Non-Argument Calendar
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
437 F.3d 1140; 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 2228; 19 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C 227
January 30, 2006, Filed
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff vessel owner appealed a decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, which dismissed as untimely its limitation of liability action filed pursuant to the Limitation of Liability Act, 46 U.S.C.S. app. §§ 181-196.
OVERVIEW: An employee of an inspection company was injured while working on a vessel. The employee filed a tort action against several named defendants, including his employer and the president and sole shareholder of the vessel's corporate owner. At that time, because the employee did not know the actual name of the company that owned the vessel, he also named as defendants three fictitious corporations. During discovery, the employee learned the name of the corporate owner and amended the complaint to expressly name the corporation as a defendant. Seven months after the filing of the initial complaint, the vessel owner filed the instant action. In affirming the district court's dismissal of the action under 46 U.S.C.S. app. § 185 because it was not filed within six months of the vessel owner's receipt of written notice of the employee's claim, the court held that the original complaint adequately gave notice to the vessel owner that the employee was making a claim against the vessel owner because the original complaint clearly asserted claims against the vessel's owner and was served on the sole shareholder and president of the vessel owner.
OUTCOME: The court affirmed the district court's decision.
