Opinion ID: 202619
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Laid up and out of commission

Text: 16 Dagnone's second argument is that, contrary to the conclusion of the district court, the yacht was in fact laid up and out of commission the night it was damaged. As such, Dagnone argues, the exclusion claimed by NHIC cannot apply. Dagnone directs us to Providence Washington Ins. Co. v. Lovett, 119 F.Supp. 371, 374 (D.R.I.1953), in which a district court looked to local practice at Rhode Island marinas to determine whether a boat had been laid up and out of commission. Dagnone points out that in Lovett, the court found that a boat which had been left in wet storage in accordance with the local practices had been laid up and out of commission, as required by a marine insurance policy. Id. at 375. 17 As an initial matter, we note that Lovett is of low persuasive value. It was decided in 1953, and we can imagine that the practices for laying up a boat and putting it out of commission may have changed in the past fifty years. Furthermore, the decision in Lovett was based on the local custom and practice at a specific marina, Port Edgewood, whereas Dagnone's yacht was located at Hinckley Marina on the night of the storm. 18 The fatal flaw in Dagnone's reasoning, however, is that his dispute with NHIC is not whether the yacht had been hauled out of the water, but whether it had been fully winterized (and thus placed out of commission). Both parties appear to agree that full winterization was required to render the yacht laid up and out of commission. Even Lovett states that if it was not possible to immediately haul a boat out of the water, it was local practice to lay the boat up by plac[ing] such boats, completely winterized, in slips on either side of the piers in wet storage for a reasonable length of time pending hauling ashore. Id. at 374 (emphasis added). Beaumont and the manager of Hinckley both stated that in local practice, the final step in winterizing a boat was to anti-freeze the engines, and Dagnone admitted that he had anti-freezed his engines as part of the winterization process in years past. All parties agree that when the yacht was damaged on December 6, 2003, its engines had not yet been anti-freezed. Thus, the district court correctly concluded that the yacht had not been fully winterized, and thus was not laid up and out of commission on the night it was damaged. Because the policy excludes claims for damage that occurs when a boat is being used during December if the boat is not laid up and out of commission, NHIC is not responsible for covering the damage to the boat.