Opinion ID: 2960624
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Other Putative Evidence of Recklessness

Text: In addition to the evidence discussed in Sections II.A-D, supra, the Statement of Facts of Spain’s principal brief on appeal mentions three other pieces of evidence that warrant at least some discussion: the inclusion of the Prestige on a 1997 internal watch list of ABS-classed ships with multiple detentions by port states; the failure of ABS to heed the 1998 recommendation of one of its surveyors that the listed condition of certain of the Prestige’s water ballast tanks be downgraded as a precaution to ensure that the tanks be examined annually; and the failure of supervisors in ABS’s Dubai office to support one of its surveyors in a conflict in 2000 between the surveyor and the 16 Spain has also not introduced sufficient evidence that the fax would have served as a notification to Marine Services of conditions aboard the Prestige, see Restatement (Third) of Agency § 5.01(1) (2006), much less that Marine Services had actual or apparent authority to receive such a notification on behalf of ABS, see id. § 5.02. 31 operators of the Prestige over the vessel’s condition. We do not think any of this evidence is sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact on recklessness, either separately or in the aggregate. With regard to the conduct of ABS in the 2000 incident in Dubai, Spain has failed to put forward any evidence that ABS officials in the United States— as distinct from ABS Dubai and other ABS regional offices—had any involvement in the decisions that Spain now criticizes on appeal. As such, the incident, on its own, cannot create a material dispute of fact regarding recklessness by U.S. officials in this case. Next, on the 1998 surveyor’s recommendation that was not followed, we note as an initial matter that, as Spain itself says in its brief, Appellant’s Br. 9- 10, the recommendation concerned the Prestige’s No. 2A water ballast tanks, rather than the No. 3 starboard cargo/ballast tank identified by Spain as the source of the casualty.17 Regardless, we assume arguendo that the ultimate decision not to downgrade the condition of the tanks was made by ABS officials in the United States. Spain still has not identified any evidence going to, for example, when recommendations by line surveyors were (or were not) followed 17 Spain argues in its reply brief that “ABS’s assertion[] . . . that the No. 2 tanks had no relationship to the No. 3 tanks . . . [is] unsupported by the record and raise[s] [an] issue[] for the factfinder.” Appellant Reply Br. 14 n.10. But Spain itself has not pointed to any evidence in the first place that the structural soundness of the No. 2 water ballast tanks was related to that of the No. 3 cargo/ballast tanks. 32 by supervisory staff; when ABS would (or would not) precautionarily alter the listed condition of a given structural element of a vessel to ensure that said element received additional survey attention; or indeed any other evidence from which a reasonable fact-finder could conclude on this record that the decision not to follow the particular recommendation at issue was reckless. Finally, it is not clear to us how the inclusion of the Prestige on a watch list in 1997, standing alone, provides evidence of recklessness on the part of ABS.18 Spain does not dispute that a notation regarding the presence of the Prestige on this multiple-detention list was added to the information in ABS’s records regarding the Prestige provided to each surveyor conducting an evaluation of the vessel while that vessel was on the list, and that the notation urged extra care in surveying a vessel on the watch list. This evidence is hardly probative of a lack of care on the part of ABS. Nor do we think that the pieces of evidence discussed in this section create a genuine dispute of material fact as to recklessness when taken together. Assume arguendo that ABS might, in certain circumstances, go above and beyond its existing survey procedures, re-evaluate its assessment of a particular vessel’s condition in light of other information that complicates that assessment, 18 Spain adduces no evidence as to how long the Prestige remained on the watch list. On appeal, ABS asserts, and Spain does not contest, that the Prestige was not on such a list at least by the end of 2000. 33 and then act on that altered assessment outside the normal survey cycle. Spain fails to advance any argument, much less point to evidence in the record, as to when ABS would, or would not, have a duty to undertake such extraordinary action; nor do we think the information discussed in this section could implicate that duty. Certainly we do not think that a reasonable jury could conclude on the evidence presented here that the failure of ABS to take such action with regard to the Prestige was reckless.