Opinion ID: 197477
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Corporate Status of Vessel Owners

Text: 64 The Vasilia parties object to certain references in the district court's opinion which, they believe, imply that the court had pierced the corporate veils of Vasilia and Royal United, without conducting the proper legal analysis. They ask us to strike from the district court opinion these statements (and strike from the pleadings similar references made by plaintiffs). The argument is misplaced. It is a basic principle of appellate jurisdiction that we review judgments, not the editorial commentary in opinions. 65 To the extent that appellants mean to argue that the district court's imputation of liability for the Navieros and Comet judgments to the in personam defendants 18 Vasilia and Royal United--was erroneous, they also fail. There are two distinct issues here: (1) whether Vasilia, the owner of the vessel, can be held liable for any damages apart from the proceeds obtained from the sale of the vessel, and (2) whether Royal United, the shipping agent and a nominally separate corporation, can be held so liable. We agree with the district court that the answer to both questions is yes. 66 The normal rule in admiralty actions in rem, such as this one was initially, is that judgment creditors, absent service of process on the vessel owner under Fed.R.Civ.P. 4, are only entitled to enforce their liens against the vessel itself. See Orbis Marine Enters., Inc. v. TEC Marine Lines, Ltd., 692 F.Supp. 280, 284 (S.D.N.Y.1988); East Asiatic Co., Ltd. v. Indomar Ltd., 422 F.Supp. 1335, 1341 (S.D.N.Y.1976); 2 Schoenbaum, supra, § 21-2, at 469; cf. Cooper v. Reynolds, 10 Wall. 308, 77 U.S. 308, 318-19, 19 L.Ed. 931 (1870) (same principle in non-admiralty action in rem ). The owners of the vessels against which actions in rem are brought are not, in such cases, personally liable for judgments in excess of the value of the vessel, if any. 67 But this is not the normal case. Here, both in personam defendants, Vasilia and Royal United, waived the requirement of service of process and waived all defenses related to personal jurisdiction. They both appeared voluntarily as in personam defendants. We recognize, of course, that this was done for strategic reasons. The waivers and appearances came as part of defendants' ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Rule B attachment of the vessel by Navieros. 68 Nevertheless, Vasilia and Royal United must live with the consequences of their choices. The waivers and appearances allowed the action to blossom into the full in personam case against the two defendants for breach of the charter party that Navieros had contemplated in its pleadings. Cf. Atkins v. Fibre Disintegrating Co., 18 Wall. 272, 85 U.S. 272, 298, 21 L.Ed. 841 (1873). We see no error in the district court's finding of liability against both defendants.