Opinion ID: 78067
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Board's In Personam Tort Claims

Text: The district court dismissed the Board's tort claims for lack of admiralty jurisdiction having determined that they were not committed by a vessel on navigable waters. Bd. of Comm'rs v. M/V Belle of Orleans, 439 F.Supp.2d 1178, 1200 (S.D.Ala.2006). We reverse. [A] party seeking to invoke federal admiralty jurisdiction ... over a tort claim must satisfy conditions both of location and of connection with maritime activity. Doe v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., 394 F.3d 891, 900 (11th Cir.2004) (quoting Jerome B. Grubart, Inc. v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 513 U.S. 527, 534, 115 S.Ct. 1043, 130 L.Ed.2d 1024 (1995)). To satisfy the location test, the tort must have occurred on navigable water or the injury suffered on land must have been caused by a vessel on navigable water. With respect to the connection test, two issues must be considered: (1) whether, upon assessment of the general features of the type of accident involved, the incident has a potentially disruptive impact on maritime commerce; and (2) whether the general character of the activity giving rise to the incident shows a substantial relationship to traditional maritime activity. Broughton v. Fla. Int'l Underwriters, Inc., 139 F.3d 861, 865 (11th Cir.1998) (internal citations omitted). We applied these conditions in Bunge Corp. v. Freeport Marine Repair, Inc., 240 F.3d 919 (11th Cir.2001), which involved circumstances similar to the case at issue. In Bunge, a water-bound casino, in her final stages of construction, broke free from her moorings on the east side of Four Mile Creek during Hurricane Opal and struck and damaged a grain-loading conveyor facility located on the west side of Four Mile Creek. Id. at 922. We held that (1) the tort occurred on navigable waters and met the locality test; (2) a partially-constructed vessel which broke free and damaged property alongside a waterway had the potential to and actually did disturb commercial activity; and (3) a collision which occurred on navigable waters due to the imperfect mooring of a nearly complete vessel bore a substantial relationship to traditional maritime activity. Here, the tort committed by the functioning Belle of Orleans is analogous to the tort committed by the partially-constructed casino in Bunge and clearly satisfies the conditions laid out in Celebrity Cruises, Inc., and Broughton. The BELLE OF ORLEANS was a vessel; she was operating in South Shore Harbor, a navigable waterway; she broke free from imperfect moorings; she had the potential to and actually did disturb commercial activity; and she is alleged to have caused damage when she struck property alongside a navigable waterway. Thus, the district court improperly concluded that there was no admiralty jurisdiction over the Board's tort claim. Having found there was no admiralty jurisdiction over the Board's tort claim, the district court then improperly refused to issue a writ of attachment under Rule B of the Supplemental Rules. A plaintiff asserting an in personam maritime claim may seek an attachment of the relevant vessel under Rule B if he produces an affidavit attesting to the fact that the defendant cannot be found within the district for purposes of jurisdiction and service of process. See Rule B(1)(b); Nehring, 901 F.2d at 1051 n. 6. After a review of the complaint and the affidavit, the court must enter an order authorizing the process of attachment and garnishment if the conditions of Rule B exist. Rule B(1)(b). As explained above, the Board has properly stated a maritime tort claim for the damage caused by the BELLE OF ORLEANS when she broke free of her moorings and struck the Marina. The parties agree that Belle of Orleans, L.L.C., cannot be found in the Southern District of Alabama. Thus, the necessary conditions exist and the district court should have accepted admiralty jurisdiction and ordered the attachment of the BELLE OF ORLEANS pursuant to Rule B.