Bede Steam Shipping Co. v. New York Trust Co.

54 F.2d 658, 1931 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1896
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 29, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 54 F.2d 658 (Bede Steam Shipping Co. v. New York Trust Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bede Steam Shipping Co. v. New York Trust Co., 54 F.2d 658, 1931 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1896 (S.D.N.Y. 1931).

Opinion

WOOLSEY, District Judge.

This motion is denied.

I. On November 7, 1931, Judge Coleman granted an order for extraterritorial service on the defendant Martin H. Ittner, pursuant to title 28, U. S. C., § 118, 28 USCA § 118 (Judicial Code, § 57).

This suit does not involve any question of jurisdiction of subject-matter, for it is brought by a British corporation and a subject of Great Britain against a corporation of New York and a citizen of the state of New Jersey, claiming an amount in excess of $3,000, and seeks in part to enforce a lien on certain personal property deposited by defendant Martin H. Ittner with the New York Trust Company as security for the performance of a' contract of charter party under circumstances which may be summarized as follows:

On September 10, 1926, a time charter party was entered into between the plaintiff Company, acting through the plaintiff John A. Frew, doing business as Frew Elder & Company, who was its managing owner, and the American General Shipping Corporation, whereby the owner chartered the steamship Bedebum to the American General Shipping Corporation for a minimum period of three months, with the provision that the charterer should give the owner ten days’ notice of redelivery.

The charter party, of which a photostat is annexed to the complaint as Schedule A thereof, provided for a monthly hire at the rate of $1.35 United States currency per ton on it, steamer’s dead weight capacity from the time of her delivery to the charterer until her redelivery to her owner.

The charter party contained, inter alia, the following clauses:

“5. Payment of said hire to be made in New York in cash or in approved Bankers sight bills on London, at Owners’ option, semi-annually, in advance, and for the last half month or part of same the approximate amount of hire, and should same not cover the actual time, hire is to be paid for the balance day by day, as it becomes due, if so required by Owners, unless bank guarantee or deposit is made by the Charterers, otherwise failing the punctual and regular payment of the hire, or bank guarantee, or any breaeh of the Charter party as herein specified, the Owners shall be at liberty to withdraw the vessel from the service of the Charterers, without prejudice to any claim they (the Owners) may otherwise have on the Charterers in pursuance of this Charter. Delivery to count from 7 a. m. on the working day following that on which written notice has been given before 4 p. m., but if required by Charterers, loading to commence at once, such time used to count as hire.”
“18. That the Owners shall have a lien upon all cargoes, and all sub-freights for any amounts due under this Charter, and the Charterers to have a lien on the Ship for all moneys paid in advance and not earned, and any overpaid hire or excess deposit to be returned at once.”

In pursuance of the provision contained in the fifth clause of the charter party above set forth, and in order to furnish the security therein contemplated by deposit in lieu of a bank guaranty which, though common throughout the rest of the world, is almost never obtainable in this country, an agreement was entered into on September 28, 1926, between the president of the charterer, Martin H. Ittner, therein described as of 105 Hudson street, Jersey City, N. J., and the New York Trust Company, and Frew Elder & Company, as agent and managing owner of the steamship Bedebum, by which it was provided that hire should be remitted through the New York Trust Company to the plaintiff as owner of the Bede-bum, or to its agent, and that “in order to secure the payment of said hire, Martin H. Ittner does hereby deposit with the New York Trust Company U. S. Treasury certificates of indebtedness and cash, to the amount and value of the sum of Ten thousand one hundred twenty-five dollars, receipt whereof the New York Trust Company hereby acknowledges.”

It was further provided in this deposit agreement that if one or more installments *660 of hire should become due under the charter party, and should not be paid by the charterer, the New York Trust Company was authorized to pay the amount to the owner or the agent of the Bedeburn in behalf of the charterer out of the cash or proceeds of the certificates so deposited, and, in order to get cash, it was' authorized to sell the deposited certificates in its discretion, at the best price in its judgment obtainable after notification to Martin H. Ittner and the American General Shipping Corporation, the charterer, of its intention to make such sale; whereupon they were given the right to make a deposit of cash equal to the principal amount of the certificates in order to prevent their sale.

There was also a provision for the termination of the deposit on duly authenticated information to the New York Trust Company that all installments of hire had been paid, and the ’ amount of the deposit was also to be reduced, on similar authentication, in certain contingencies not of interest to us here.

A provision was also made by whieh the defendant Martin H. Ittner might substitute for any part of the cash and certificates constituting the deposit, U. S. Treasury certificates deemed by the New York Trust Company to be equivalent to the cash and certificates constituting such original deposit, and the trust company was also entitled to maintain the amount of the deposit by requiring Ittner to deposit additional cash or securities if, in the opinion of the trust company, the amount of the deposit was not sufficient to cover the outstanding obligation of the charterer to the shipowner.

It was further provided.that the agreement should not be terminated or modified except in accordance with its terms or the terms of the time charter, without the written consent of the shipowner or its agent; and the trust company should not be liable under it except for gross negligence or willful malfeasance.

The whole agreement was, of course, entered into without prejudice to the time charter; and by its terms an earlier agreement was to be canceled, and the cash and securities deposited thereunder returned to the defendant Ittner.

II. Subsequently, there arose between the owner and the charterer certain disputes under the charter party of' whieh the details are not here of interest.

■ These disputes resulted in the filing, on the admiralty side of this court, (1) of a libel on behalf of the Bede Steam Shipping Company, as owner of the Bedeburn, against the American General Shipping Company, charterer, and the subfreights on a cargo which the Bedeburn was then about to deliver; and, (2) of a cross-libel by the charterer against the owner.

In view of an arbitration agreement in the charter party, the Federal Arbitration Act, Title 9, U. S. C., §§ 1, 3 and 8 (9 USCA §§ 1, 3, and 8), was invoked after these libels were filed, and by a written agreement between the parties, dated December 12, 1929, Russell T. Mount, Esq., was appointed sole arbitrator to decide the disputes between the parties.

Thereafter the arbitrator heard the parties fully, and wrote a most painstaking and thorough opinion and award on the questions involved, and, subsequently, having reserved the question of damages, he also wrote a supplementary award thereon.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

U. S. Industries, Inc. v. Gregg
58 F.R.D. 469 (D. Delaware, 1973)
Dry Clime Lamp Corp. v. Edwards
389 F.2d 590 (Fifth Circuit, 1968)
Dry Clime Lamp Corporation v. G. L. Edwards
389 F.2d 590 (Fifth Circuit, 1968)
Osborn v. White Eagle Oil Company
355 P.2d 1041 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1960)
Buzzell v. Edward H. Everett Co.
180 F. Supp. 893 (D. Vermont, 1960)
United States v. Balanovski
236 F.2d 298 (Second Circuit, 1956)
Sands v. Lefcourt Realty Corporation
117 A.2d 365 (Supreme Court of Delaware, 1955)
United States v. Balanovski
131 F. Supp. 898 (S.D. New York, 1955)
Lefcourt Realty Corp. v. Sands
113 A.2d 428 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1955)
Leftcourt Realty Corporation v. Sands
113 A.2d 428 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1955)
Proctor v. the Sagamore Big Game Club
128 F. Supp. 885 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1955)
Anderson v. Benson
117 F. Supp. 765 (D. Nebraska, 1953)
Campbell v. Murdock
90 F. Supp. 297 (N.D. Ohio, 1950)
McQuillen v. National Cash Register Co.
112 F.2d 877 (Fourth Circuit, 1940)
Green v. Brophy
110 F.2d 539 (D.C. Circuit, 1940)
Perrine v. Pennroad Corp.
168 A. 196 (Court of Chancery of Delaware, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 F.2d 658, 1931 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1896, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bede-steam-shipping-co-v-new-york-trust-co-nysd-1931.