D'Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Maritime (Hellas) Ltd.

201 F. Supp. 3d 399, 2016 A.M.C. 2084, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107702, 2016 WL 4361823
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 13, 2016
Docket09-cv-07840 (JGK)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 201 F. Supp. 3d 399 (D'Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Maritime (Hellas) Ltd.) 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
D'Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Maritime (Hellas) Ltd., 201 F. Supp. 3d 399, 2016 A.M.C. 2084, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107702, 2016 WL 4361823 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

JOHN G. KOELTL, District Judge

This case is a judgment enforcement action that turns primarily on the question of whether the plaintiff, D’Amico Dry Limited (“D’Amico”), can properly collect on a judgment, obtained in England (the “English Judgment”), in a United States federal court pursuant to federal maritime jurisdiction. More specifically, the issue is whether a claim for breach of the Forward Freight Agreement (“FFA”) between D’Amico and defendant Primera Maritime (Hellas) Limited (“Primera”) is a maritime claim under United States admiralty law.

The plaintiff contends that the Court should recognize the English' judgment and, first, enter a judgment against Prim-era; second, enter default judgments against non-appearing defendants Paul Co-ronis, Nicholas (or Nikolaos) Coronis, Primera Ocean Services S.A., and J.P.C. Investments S.A.; and, third, enter a judgment against the other appearing defendants as the successors in interest and/or alter egos of the Coronis family and Prim-era.

Defendant Primera maintains that the FFA at issue in this case is not a maritime contract and therefore a claim for breach of that contract is not a maritime claim, and there is no federal maritime jurisdiction to enforce the English Judgment.

The Court held a non-jury trial in which it assessed the credibility of the witnesses. The record is cléar that the FFA between D’Amico and Primera (the “D’Amico/Prim-era FFA” or “the FFA”) is not a maritime contract. There is no credible evidence that it is a maritime contract. Therefore, the Court lacks jurisdiction to enforce the English Judgment, and it is unnecessary to reach the remaining issues.

I. PROCEDURAL POSTURE

In September 2009, D’Amico filed suit in this Court under this Court’s admiralty jurisdiction to enforce a money judgment issued by the English High Court of Justice for breach of the D’Amico/Primera FFA. Primera moved to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

In July 2009, the Court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction without prejudice because the Court concluded that an evidentiary hearing would be necessary to determine jurisdiction. On December 23, 2010, after Primera commenced liquidation proceedings, D’Amico amended its complaint to add over a dozen additional companies as named defendants and alleged alter-egos of Primera. These defendants also moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction..

In 2011, rather than presenting live testimony, the parties relied on evidentiary submissions to resolve the issue of jurisdiction. The Court dismissed D’Amico’s enforcement action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and denied D’Amico’s motion for reconsideration. In its initial decision, the Court concluded that, “[bjecause the English court was not sitting as an admiralty court when it rendered the English Judgment, this Court does not have jurisdiction over an action to enforce that judgment.” D’Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Mar. Hellas Ltd., No. 09-cv-7840 (JGK), 2011 WL 1239861, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 28, 2011).

D’Amico moved for reconsideration, arguing that enforcement of the English judgment lies within a federal court’s admiralty jurisdiction because the claim on which the judgment was rendered would have come within federal admiralty jurisdiction if it had been brought in the courts of the United States. Upon reconsideration, this Court rejected D’Amico’s argu[402]*402ment that the classification of the claim under United States law — whether it was an admiralty claim or not — determined whether the English Judgment could be enforced in the federal courts. See D’Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Mar. (Hellas) Ltd., No. 09-cv-7840 (JGK), 2011 WL 3273208, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 1, 2011) (“An action to enforce a foreign judgment is a separate civil action imposing its own jurisdictional requirements, and a suit to enforce a judgment rendered on a maritime claim is not itself maritime in nature.”), vacated sub nom,, D’Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Mar. (Hellas) Ltd., 756 F.3d 151 (2d Cir.2014).

On an issue of first impression, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that United States law rather than foreign law should determine whether the claim underlying a foreign judgment is a maritime claim. See D’Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Mar. (Hellas) Ltd., 756 F.3d 151, 157-162 (2d Cir.2014). It held that federal admiralty jurisdiction extends to a suit to enforce a foreign judgment if the claim underlying the foreign judgment is a maritime claim under United States law, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1333. “Accordingly, this suit to enforce an English judgment comes within the admiralty jurisdiction of § 1333 if the underlying claim on the FFA is deemed maritime under the standards of U.S. law.” D’Amico, 756 F.3d at 162.

The Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and remanded the issue to this Court to determine in the first instance whether the D’Amico/Primera FFA is a maritime contract under United States admiralty law.

On March 31, 2015, this Court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) because there were genuine issues of material fact whether the FFA was entered into by the parties as part of their maritime businesses for the purpose of hedging against the unemployment of vessels — and, thus, a maritime contract — or as a means of financial speculation — and, thus, unlikely to be a maritime contract. See Tr. (Mar. 31, 2015) at 39.

Subsequently, sixteen of the alter ego defendants moved to dismiss the claims against them pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, arguing that the plaintiffs action against them is barred by claim and issue preclusion arising from decisions of the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas. The Court denied that motion in July 2015. See D’Amico Dry Ltd. v. Primera Mar. (Hellas) Ltd., 116 F.Supp.3d 349, 351 (S.D.N.Y.2015).

The Court held a non-jury trial from May 09, 2016 through May 12, 2016. Having reviewed the evidence and assessed the credibility of the witnesses, the Court makes the following Findings of Fact and reaches the following Conclusions of Law.

II. FINDINGS OF FACT

A. The Parties

1. D’Amico was at all material times a dry bulk vessel owning and operating company incorporated in Ireland. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of D’Amico International S.A. which is a wholly owned subsidiary of D’Amico Societa di Navi-gazione SpA. Stipulation of Facts ¶ 1; Tr. at 119-20.

2. Primera was, at all material times, a Liberian corporation incorporated in 1991 and was engaged in the business of ship management with a registered address at 80 Broad Street, Monrovia, Liberia. Stipulation of Facts ¶ 2; Ex. 92.

3. In 2008, D’Amico owned and operated a fleet of about 25 to 30 dry bulk vessels.

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201 F. Supp. 3d 399, 2016 A.M.C. 2084, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107702, 2016 WL 4361823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/damico-dry-ltd-v-primera-maritime-hellas-ltd-nysd-2016.