Opinion ID: 702303
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Shipowner's Base of Operations

Text: 221 The district court, looking at the base of operations of the shipowner, LeMaire, concluded that this factor was unclear, and thus favored neither the application of United States nor St. Lucian law. Neely, 1992 WL 398378, at  3. Plaintiff argues, and the record supports the conclusion, that Holiday Village chartered this vessel from the actual shipowner in a manner consistent with a bareboat or demise charter. Appellant/Cross-Appellee's Reply/Answering Brief at 40-47. A bareboat charter or demise charter exists whenever the: 222 vessel is chartered or leased to another who takes possession, custody and control of the vessel. The master is hired and paid by the charterer and becomes the agent and representative of the charterer. The operating expenses of the vessel, such as wages, fuel, subsistence, wharfage charges, etc., are paid by the charterer. The owner surrenders entire control and possession of the vessel and subsequent control over its navigation to the bareboat charterer, who becomes the owner pro hac vice. 223 2 Martin J. Norris, The Law of Seamen Sec. 30:14, at 372 (4th ed. 1985). Thus, by contracting a demise charter with the actual shipowner, Holiday Village became the owner pro hac vice of the Long John. 12 Since we look to Holiday Village (a St. Lucian corporation), rather than LeMaire of Miami, as the owner of the vessel, I would hold that this factor weighs in favor of applying St. Lucian law and against applying United States law. 224 Relying on Fogleman v. ARAMCO, 920 F.2d 278 (5th Cir.1991), the majority contends that this is not a traditional shipping case and therefore, we should not look to the base of operations of the defendant shipowner, but rather to that of the defendant employer. Maj. op. at 194 ([W]e must consider the ... bases of operations of both Holiday Village and Club Med Management.) (emphasis in original). In that case, involving personal injuries sustained on a fixed oil platform, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the significance of each Lauritzen factor may vary in a non-traditional shipping case. Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 282. First, the majority analogizes this case to one involving an offshore oil rig or work platform. To the extent that the majority's argument relies on the notion that the Long John was engaged in activity more analogous to that of an oil rig rather than an ocean-going vessel, it must again fail. Second, in Fogleman, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that: 225 Particularly when non-traditional maritime activities with relatively permanently based vessels are involved, it is the base from which the rig is operated on a day-to-day basis rather than the base of operations of the corporate or ultimate owner of the rig which is important for choice of law purposes. We look to the location of the day-to-day operations even when the employer is a wholly-owned subsidiary of an American corporation, so long as the foreign subsidiary was not formed specifically to evade obligations of the parent corporation under American law. 226 Fogleman, 920 F.2d at 284 (citations and footnotes omitted). 13 Thus, even if we were to follow the reasoning of Fogleman, it mandates that we should look to St. Lucia (the base from which the vessel is operated on a day-to-day basis), rather than to New York (the base of operations of Club Med Management). 227 The majority concedes that the Long John was operated exclusively in St. Lucia and that Holiday Village is a St. Lucian corporation. Predictably, however, the majority concludes that this factor only weakly favors the application of St. Lucian law. Instead it argues that we should look to the activity of Club Med Management and Club Med Sales. However, any activity conducted by Club Med Sales is irrelevant to this dispute because it was never determined to be an employer of Neely. 14 Even if we were to examine the activities of Club Med Management because it was found by the jury to be Neely's employer, we should not ignore St. Lucia's paramount interest in having its law applied to this controversy.