Opinion ID: 520692
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Nexus Test

Text: 26 To determine whether the alleged wrong bears a significant relationship to traditional maritime activity, this Court has considered four relevant factors, first set out by the former Fifth Circuit in Kelly v. Smith, supra: (i) the functions and roles of the parties; (ii) the types of vehicles and instrumentalities involved; (iii) the causation and type of injury; and (iv) traditional concepts of the role of admiralty law. Kelly, 485 F.2d at 525. 3 27 In Kelly, the defendants were hunters from a private game preserve who fired rifle shots from ashore at deer poachers fleeing in a motorboat on a river, a major commercial artery. The Court concluded that the rifle fire, which injured the pilot aboard the boat, presented a sufficient danger to maritime commerce to invoke the Court's admiralty jurisdiction and to furnish remedies to those injured. 485 F.2d at 526. The Court placed special emphasis on the fourth factor--traditional concepts of the role of admiralty law--in its analysis. 28 The party most seriously injured in Kelly was the pilot of the boat, whose task was to navigate the river. In the case before us, there were no personal injuries resulting from the fire. The fire occurred in the early evening, when no one was occupying either boat. Appellee's employees had finished working at the paint facility for the day, thus none was injured. The parties involved are boatowners and the owner of the marina, but they were not functioning in particularly maritime roles when the fire took place. 29 The vehicles and instrumentalities involved in the fire at Huckins Yacht were boats, Huckins Yacht's marina, and the materials that ignited the fire. The boats were obviously maritime vessels. 4 The paint facility that was damaged related to maritime activity, because it serviced maritime vessels. However, the vessels involved were not engaged in navigation or near other vessels navigating the waters, unlike the boat in Kelly. Even if the vessels involved were pleasure boats, admiralty jurisdiction may be invoked, if they are engaged in navigation. Cf. Foremost, 457 U.S. at 674-75, 102 S.Ct. at 2658. 30 The cause of the fire was unknown at the time appellant filed its notice of appeal. At oral argument, it was revealed that case No. 86-193 was tried, determining that the fire started on the vessel owned by appellant and was the result of arson. Whatever the cause, the boats were both at rest when the fire occurred, and no one was present on them. The damage that resulted from the fire, although affecting objects and facilities related to the water, did not occur where other vessels in navigation could have been affected. Ocean Entertainment's boat was in the spraypaint room of Huckins Yacht's paint building, and appellant's yacht was inside the paint building, in a slip that happened to be on water. 31 We give special consideration to the final factor, the traditional concepts of the role of admiralty law, in deciding whether to permit invocation of admiralty jurisdiction over appellant's claim. Harville v. Johns-Manville, 731 F.2d at 785. 32 Our precedent indicates that '[a]dmiralty jurisdiction in the federal courts was predicated upon the need for a uniform development of the law governing the maritime industries.' Disputes not involving these interests are not within the admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts. 33 731 F.2d at 786 (quoting Peytavin v. Government Employees Insurance Co., 453 F.2d 1121, 1127 (5th Cir.1972)). The national interest also includes providing remedies for those facing the hazards of waterborne transportation. Kelly, 485 F.2d at 526. 34 We fail to see how resolution of this case according to admiralty law will have any potential impact on maritime commerce. The boats were not in proximity to other vessels either in or serving the flow of commerce. There is no discernable relationship between the tort committed here and traditional maritime activities, involving navigation or commerce on navigable waters. Executive Jet, 409 U.S. at 256, 93 S.Ct. at 498; Foremost, 457 U.S. at 674-77, 102 S.Ct. at 2658-59. Moreover, there is no important national interest which militates in favor of admiralty jurisdiction in this case. Cf. Moser v. Texas Trailer Corp., 623 F.2d 1006, 1009 (5th Cir.1980) (national interest in a uniform rule governing duties to remedy dangerous working conditions for loading cargo in navigable waters). Appellant's situation is similar to that of a car owner's, who takes his or her car to the mechanic for repairs and returns to find that a fire, which started either in the car or in the shop, destroyed the car, another car, and part of the garage. We see no reason to treat appellant's claim to limit its liability for the damage caused here differently than we would the same claim by a car-owner. Absent the requisite relationship to traditional maritime activity, appellant's claim does not fall within the federal court's maritime jurisdiction. 5