Opinion ID: 3023556
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: S u b s ta n t ia l Relationship to

Text: Traditional Maritime Activity “[W]hether the general character of the activity giving rise to the incident shows a substantial relationship to traditional 18 maritime activity” is not a concept cabined narrowly or rigidly. Neely, 63 F.3d at 179 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Sisson v. Ruby, 497 U.S. 358, 364 (1990) (“Our cases have made clear that the relevant ‘activity’ is defined not by the particular circumstances of the incident, but by the general conduct from which the incident arose.”). The Supreme Court has held that a “broad perspective” should be used in determining whether the activity underlying a claim has the requisite relationship to maritime activity, and has declined to hold that navigation is the only activity that could satisfy the substantial relationship test. Sisson, 497 U.S. at 367.15 15 In Sisson, the Court emphasized that [t]he fundamental interest giving rise to maritime jurisdiction is the protection of maritime commerce, and we have said that that interest cannot be fully vindicated unless all operators of vessels on navigable waters are subject to uniform rules of conduct. The need for uniform rules of maritime conduct and liability is not limited to navigation, but extends at least to any other activities traditionally undertaken by vessels, commercial or noncommercial. 497 U.S. at 367 (first emphasis in original) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). 19 The District Court held that, under Sisson, the activity in this case met the substantial relationship test because, if activities undertaken by vessels have a substantial relationship to maritime activity, it logically follows that activities carried out to or against vessels would also have a substantial relationship to maritime activity. As such, the very serious act of arresting a vessel at a port sufficiently relates to maritime activity to establish subject matter jurisdiction. Malaysia, mem. op. at 8 (emphasis in original). Per Sisson and Neely, our focus in this inquiry must also include the activity giving rise to the seizure of the Vessel. See Sisson, 497 U.S. at 364; Neely, 63 F.3d at 179. As stated earlier, Sinochem’s alleged misrepresentations gave rise to the seizure of the Vessel. Looked at narrowly, it may seem that the act of making representations (or misrepresentations, as the case may be) to a court has no connection with maritime activity. But looking at Sinochem’s alleged conduct broadly, as we must, it was clearly undertaken 20 with the purpose of having the Vessel seized.16 Asking a court to have a vessel arrested, as Sinochem did here, is a wellestablished method of granting an admiralty court power to exercise authority over a ship, see Reed v. S.S. Yaka, 307 F.2d 203, 204 (3d Cir. 1962), rev’d on other grounds, 373 U.S. 410 (1963), and thus has a substantial relationship to traditional maritime activity.17