Court Opinion

ID: 9952908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-20 21:00:38.325206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:42:26.421705
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-1769         Doc: 58        Filed: 03/19/2024      Pg: 1 of 7

                                               UNPUBLISHED

                                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                                 No. 22-1766

        In re: COMPLAINT OF WILSON YACHTS, LLC AS OWNER OF A 38-FOOT
        SAILING CATAMARAN, KNOWN AS THE S/Y SEVEN DAY WEEKEND
        OFFICIAL NUMBER 1275474 FOR EXONERATION FROM OR LIMITATION
        OF LIABILITY.

        ------------------------------

        WILSON YACHTS, LLC,

                                Plaintiff,

                        v.

        JAMES S. ATSRIKU, Individually and as administrator of the estate of Jerry S.
        Atsriku; FELICIA ATSRIKU, nee Felicia Oborgor; JOSEPH ATSRIKU,

                                Claimants and Third-Party Plaintiffs- Appellants,

                        v.

        SAIL AWAY, LLC,

                                Third Party Defendant – Appellee,

        STEVEN MICHAEL COFFMAN,

                                Third Party Defendant.

                                                 No. 22-1768
USCA4 Appeal: 22-1769         Doc: 58        Filed: 03/19/2024      Pg: 2 of 7

        In re: COMPLAINT OF WILSON YACHTS, LLC AS OWNER OF A 38-FOOT
        SAILING CATAMARAN, KNOWN AS THE S/Y SEVEN DAY WEEKEND
        OFFICIAL NUMBER 1275474 FOR EXONERATION FROM OR LIMITATION
        OF LIABILITY.

        ------------------------------

        WILSON YACHTS, LLC,

                                Plaintiff,

                        v.

        JAMES S. ATSRIKU,

                                Claimant and Third-Party Plaintiff – Appellant,

                and

        FELICIA ATSRIKU, nee Felicia Oborgor; JOSEPH ATSRIKU,

                                Claimants and Third-Party Plaintiffs,

                        v.

        STEVEN MICHAEL COFFMAN,

                                Third Party Defendant – Appellee,

        SAIL AWAY, LLC,

                                Third Party Defendant.

                                                 No. 22-1769

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        In re: COMPLAINT OF WILSON YACHTS, LLC AS OWNER OF A 38-FOOT
        SAILING CATAMARAN, KNOWN AS THE S/Y SEVEN DAY WEEKEND
        OFFICIAL NUMBER 1275474 FOR EXONERATION FROM OR LIMITATION
        OF LIABILITY.

        ------------------------------

        WILSON YACHTS, LLC,

                                Plaintiff – Appellee,

                        v.

        JAMES S. ATSRIKU, Individually and as administrator of the estate of Jerry S.
        Atsriku; FELICIA ATSRIKU, nee Felicia Oborgor; JOSEPH ATSRIKU,

                                Claimants and Third-Party Plaintiffs – Appellants,

                        v.

        SAIL AWAY, LLC; STEVEN MICHAEL COFFMAN,

                                Third Party Defendants.

        Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore.
        Julie R. Rubin, District Judge. (1:20-cv-03452-JRR)

        Argued: December 8, 2023                                          Decided: March 19, 2024

        Before KING and HARRIS, Circuit Judges, and Rossie D. ALSTON, Jr., United States
        District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

        Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

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        ARGUED: Arnold I. Berschler, BERSCHLER ASSOCIATES PC, San Francisco,
        California, for Appellants. Todd D. Lochner, LOCHNER LAW FIRM PC, Annapolis,
        Maryland; Margaret Fonshell Ward, DOWNS WARD BENDER HERZOG & KINTIGH,
        P.A., Hunt Valley, Maryland, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Stephen Barnie Freeman, S.B.
        FREEMAN LAW GROUP, LLC, Brunswick, Maryland, for Appellants. Robert P.
        O’Brien, Paulina J. Taniewski, NILES, BARTON & WILMER, LLP, Baltimore,
        Maryland, for Appellee Wilson Yachts, LLC. Gregory R. Singer, LOCHNER LAW FIRM
        P.C., Annapolis, Maryland, for Appellee Steven Michael Coffman.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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        PER CURIAM:

               This action stems from the drowning of Jerry S. Atsriku in the Rhode River, a

        navigable tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, on August 24, 2019, after jumping off a sailing

        vessel named Seven Day Weekend (the “Vessel”). Following Jerry’s death, the owner of

        the Vessel, Wilson Yachts, LLC, initiated this litigation under 46 U.S.C. §§ 30501 et seq.

        seeking exoneration or limitation of its liability as to the tragic incident. In response, the

        Estate of the deceased Jerry Atsriku, his twin brother James S. Atsriku, and their parents

        Felicia Atsriku and Joseph Atsriku (collectively, the “Atsrikus”) filed a third-party

        complaint (the “Complaint”) seeking damages for Jerry’s death. The Atsrikus alleged

        wrongful death claims under both maritime and Maryland law, and they named as third-

        party defendants not only Wilson Yachts, but also the charter broker, Sail Away, LLC, and

        the captain of the Vessel on the day of the incident, Steven Michael Coffman. Additionally,

        the Complaint alleged an individual claim by James Atsriku, who witnessed his twin

        brother’s drowning, for negligent infliction of emotional distress under maritime law

        against Captain Coffman.

               Wilson Yachts, Sail Away, and Captain Coffman moved in the district court for

        summary judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. In June 2022, the court

        granted the third-party defendants’ summary judgment motions and (1) exonerated Wilson

        Yachts from liability on all claims; (2) entered judgment in favor of Sail Away on all

        claims; and (3) entered partial summary judgment in favor of Captain Coffman, dismissing

        both the Atsrikus’ maritime wrongful death claim and brother James’s negligent infliction

        of emotional distress claim. See In re Wilson Yachts, LLC, 605 F. Supp. 3d 695 (D. Md.

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        2022) (the “Summary Judgment Order”). What remained after the court’s Summary

        Judgment Order was the Atsrikus’ wrongful death claims under Maryland common law

        against Captain Coffman.

               The Atsrikus then noticed these three separate interlocutory appeals which are

        consolidated here — each referencing the same Summary Judgment Order entered by the

        district court — asserting appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(3). One

        appeal, No. 22-1766, was filed on behalf of the Atsrikus, contesting the court’s resolution

        of their claims against Sail Away; the second appeal, No. 22-1768, was filed on behalf of

        James Atsriku, challenging the court’s resolution of his individual claim against Captain

        Coffman; and the third appeal, No. 22-1769, was filed on behalf of the Atsrikus, contesting

        the court’s resolution of their claims against Wilson Yachts. *

               Having assessed the various submissions of the parties and with the benefit of oral

        argument, we are satisfied that the district court did not err in its various awards of

        summary judgment. Indeed, we are satisfied to adopt the court’s carefully crafted and well-

               *
                 During oral argument, this Court raised the question of our jurisdiction to consider
        these appeals at this time, as the issue was only fleetingly addressed in the parties’ briefs.
        We thus requested counsel for both sides to submit supplemental briefing on the
        jurisdictional issue. Upon consideration of the supplemental briefing, we are content to
        accept the proposition that we possess jurisdiction to dispose of these appeals under 28
        U.S.C. § 1292(a)(3), which provides for appellate jurisdiction from interlocutory orders
        “determining the rights and liabilities of the parties to admiralty cases.” See 28 U.S.C.
        § 1292(a)(3); see also In re Intercontinental Props. Mgmt., 604 F.2d 254, 258 n.2 (4th Cir.
        1979); Barna Conshipping, S.L. v. 2,000 Metric Tons, More or Less, of Abandoned Steel,
        410 F. App’x 716, 719 n.2 (4th Cir. 2011).

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        reasoned Summary Judgment Order addressing and disposing of the relevant issues. We

        therefore reject each of the appellate contentions of the Atsrikus and affirm.

                                                                                         AFFIRMED

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