CLAIMANTS AMENDED STIPULATIONS RESOLVED THE TENSION BETWEEN THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY ACT AND THE SAVING TO SUITORS CLAUSE ALLOWING THE STATE COURT ACTION TO PROCEED.
IN THE MATTER OF THE COMPLAINT OF INGRAM BARGE COMPANY, Plaintiff
CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:05-cv-00379
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA, CHARLESTON DIVISION
419 F. Supp. 2d 885; 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10550
March 13, 2006, Decided
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Plaintiff vessel owners filed a complaint seeking exoneration or limitation of liability pursuant to the Limitation of Liability Act, 46 U.S.C.S. ยงยง 181-196, in a state action arising from the drowning death of two teenage boys. Pending before the court were the joint motion of claimants, the administrators of the boys' estates, to dissolve an injunction and stay the limitation of liability proceedings.
OVERVIEW: The Limitation of Liability Act provided vessel owners a qualified right to limit their liability. The saving to suitors clause, on the other hand, preserved claimants' right to pursue common law remedies in the forum of their choice as long as such legal actions do not contravene a limitation on plaintiff's right to limit its liability. The claimants, through their amended stipulations, succeeded in resolving the tension between those seemingly incongruent statutory provisions by adequately protecting the vessel owners' right to limit their liability. The amended stipulations prioritized the claims and provided that in "in no event" would the claimant's recover more than $ 37,000 until after the final adjudication of the limitation of liability action. Thus, the vessel owners were not exposed to competing judgments that could have exhausted the limitation fund. In addition, by staying the action, the court had continuing jurisdiction to correct unforeseen deficiencies in the amended stipulations should they prove to provide inadequate protection.
OUTCOME: The court granted the motion, dissolved the injunction, and stayed the proceedings.
