Opinion ID: 6931506
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Substantive Admiralty Law

Text: Having determined that this case easily meets both the traditional locality test and the maritime nexus test and thus falls comfortably within the admiralty jurisdiction, it follows that substantive admiralty law applies. East River, 476 U.S. at 862-66, 106 S.Ct. at 2298-99; Executive Jet Aviation, Inc. v. City of Cleveland, 409 U.S. 249, 254, 93 S.Ct. 493, 498, 34 L.Ed.2d 454 (1972); Romero v. International Terminal Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354, 360, 79 S.Ct. 468, 473, 3 L.Ed.2d 368 (1959); Wahlstrom v. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., 4 F.3d 1084, 1086 (2d Cir.1993). Accordingly, the three-year statute of limitations for maritime torts, prescribed in 46 U.S.C. app. § 763a, applies. 7 In Butler v. American Trawler Co., Inc., 887 F.2d 20 (1st Cir.1989), the First Circuit held that the three-year statute of limitations applies to maritime torts. The court expressly rejected an argument, similar to the one Mink presents, that a different state statute of limitations should apply. In enacting § 763a, Congress intended to provide a uniform statute of limitations for all maritime personal injury and death torts. Butler, 887 F.2d at 22; Friel v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 751 F.2d 1037, 1038-39 (9th Cir.1985). As discussed below, this is consistent with the well established law recognizing the need for uniformity with respect to maritime standards. In an artful attempt to recast his maritime tort claims as a contract claim in order to evade the less favorable statute of limitations afforded under the maritime law, Mink argues that his claim can be viewed as stating a cause of action for the same personal injuries under the Florida law of implied warranty. In other words, Mink argues that he has side-by-side claims for the same personal injuries both in tort and in contract. Although it is not at all clear that Mink could prevail under the Florida law of implied warranty, we need not reach the state law issues because we readily conclude that this case is governed by the substantive admiralty law. As noted above, 46 U.S.C. app. § 763a, and its legislative history, clearly evidence a Congressional intent to establish a uniform statute of limitations, consistent with the well-established case law recognizing the need for uniformity with respect to maritime standards. As noted by the First Circuit in Butler, supra, in passing § 763a, “Congress intended that statute to preclude the operation of different state limitations statutes in respect to maritime torts.” 887 F.2d at 21. The reasoning of the First Circuit, with which we agree, is based both upon the language of the statute and its legislative history: The language and legislative history of the subsequently enacted federal statute [§ 763a] contain nothing suggesting Congress intended to permit states to apply their own, differing statutes of limitations instead. To the contrary, the language of the statute suggests that Congress enacted it to deal with the problem of non-uniformity, a problem that arose because courts, applying the federal doctrine of laches, would “use [differing] local limitation statutes as a rule-of-thumb.” 887 F.2d at 22 (quoting Oroz v. American President Lines, 259 F.2d 636, 639 (2nd Cir.1958)). The recognition of the fundamental need for uniformity with respect to maritime standards is of long-standing vintage. It was articulated by Justice Bradley in The Lotta-wanna and reiterated in Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen: ‘One thing however, is unquestionable; the Constitution must have referred to a system of law coextensive with, and operating uniformly in, the whole country. It certainly could not have been the intention to place rules and limits of maritime law under the disposal and regulation of the several states, as that would have defeated the uniformity and consistency at which the Constitution aimed on all subjects of a commercial character affecting the intercourse of the states with each other or with foreign states.’ Jensen, 244 U.S. 205, 215, 37 S.Ct. 524, 528-29, 61 L.Ed. 1086 (1917) (quoting The Lottawanna, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 558, 575, 22 L.Ed. 654 (1875)). It follows logically as part and parcel of the need for uniformity that, once it is determined that the case involves a maritime tort, the case is governed by the substantive admiralty law. Courts have uniformly so held. East River, 476 U.S. at 862-66, 106 S.Ct. at 2298-99; Executive Jet, 409 U.S. at 254, 93 S.Ct. at 498. As early as 1917, the Supreme Court held: Equally well established is the rule that state statutes may not contravene an applicable act of Congress or affect the general maritime law beyond certain limits ... And plainly, we think no such legislation is valid if it contravenes the essential purpose expressed by an act of Congress, or works material prejudice to the characteristic features of the general maritime law, or interferes with the proper harmony and uniformity of that law in its international and interstate relations. This limitation, at the least, is essential to the effective operation of the fundamental purposes for which such law was incorporated into our national laws by the Constitution itself. Jensen, 244 U.S. at 216, 37 S.Ct. at 529. Indeed, the federal interest in uniformity is such that the courts have developed a reverse-Erie doctrine, by virtue of which the same federal maritime law applies in maritime cases,' whether the case is brought in state court or in federal court based on diversity of jurisdiction. In Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn, 346 U.S. 406, 74 S.Ct. 202, 98 L.Ed. 143 (1953), the Supreme Court, noting that a state court would be required to apply the substantive admiralty law in maritime cases, held that the principle of equal justice embodied in the Erie-Tompkins doctrine would also indicate that a federal court diversity case involving a maritime tort must apply the substantive admiralty law. See Offshore Logistics, Inc. v. Tallentire, 477 U.S. 207, 222-23, 106 S.Ct. 2485, 2494, 91 L.Ed.2d 174 (1986) (although state courts are authorized to entertain maritime causes of action under some circumstances, “the extent to which state law may be used to remedy maritime injuries is constrained by a so-called ‘reverse-Erie’ doctrine which requires that the substantive remedies afforded ... conform to governing federal maritime standards”). Mink’s attempt to recast his maritime tort claim in the form of a state law contract claim must fail in the face of the clear Congressional mandate of § 763a that a uniform statute of limitations be applicable, and in the face of the well-recognized case law that the need for uniform maritime standards dictates application of the federal maritime law. If Mink could merely recast his claim for personal injuries to fit a different state law cause of action and succeed in obtaining a different set of governing standards, the federal interest in uniformity would disintegrate. 8 Accordingly; we reject Mink’s attempt to recast his maritime tort claim as a state law contract claim. 9