Grubbs v. Gulf Intern. Marine, Inc.

625 So. 2d 495, 1994 A.M.C. 244, 1993 La. LEXIS 2959, 1993 WL 427303
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided October 18, 1993·No. 93-CQ-0583·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

625 So.2d 495 (1993)

Jonathan P. GRUBBS
v.
GULF INTERNATIONAL MARINE, INC., et al.

No. 93-CQ-0583.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 18, 1993.

*496 Roger S. Bernstein, Harvey D. Lewis, Bernstein & Bernstein, for applicant.

Terrence C. Forstall, Richard L. Seelman, Courtney, Forstall, Guilbaut, Hunter & Fontana, Richard E. Windhorst, Jr., for respondent.

Louis R. Koerner, Jr., for Power Systems Diesel Inc., Vener Marine Ltd., Calvin Loveless, Sr., Sandy Holland amicus curiae.

George M. Gilly, Stephanie G. McShane, for Offshore Marine Serv. Ass'n amicus curiae.

Drew A. Ranier, Michael R. Garber, for Waldon Doxey, Edna Doxey amicus curiae.

Paul H. Dué, Walter L. Smith, Donald W. Price, George Pavlakis, Dimitrios Giannouleaus amicus curiae.

Harvey J. Lewis, Louisiana Trial Lawyers Ass'n amicus curiae.

KIMBALL, Justice.[*]

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has certified to this court the following question of law:

Whether the Louisiana Direct Action Statute, LSA-R.S. 22:655 (West Supp. 1992) permits an injured party to maintain a direct action against a marine protection and indemnity insurer.

985 F.2d 762 (5th Cir.1993) (per curiam), withdrawing 975 F.2d 186. We accepted certification, 616 So.2d 691 (La.1993), and now answer in the affirmative.[1]

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Jonathan P. Grubbs was injured in 1986 while employed as an engineer on the tug M/V THOMAS HEBERT. At the time of the accident, the tug was in Texas territorial waters. Gulf International Marine, Inc. (Gulf), Grubbs' Houma, Louisiana based employer and the owner and operator of the tug, was insured under a marine protection and indemnity (P & I) policy issued by American Steamship Owners' Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association, Inc. (American). American's sole U.S. office is located in New York, New York. It delivered the policy to Gulf's broker, Seahawk International, Inc. (Seahawk), at Seahawk's New York office. Although American and Seahawk furnished certificates of insurance to Gulf's customers upon Gulf's request, neither the insurer nor the broker ever complied with Gulf's repeated requests for a copy of the policy.

In December 1986, Grubbs filed suit in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Gulf and American seeking recovery for his injuries.[2] The district court granted American's motion for summary judgment, concluding that American was not amenable to suit under the Louisiana *497 Direct Action Statute because the accident occurred outside Louisiana and the policy was neither written nor delivered in Louisiana.[3]

On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of American, but on different grounds. The district court had dismissed Grubbs' direct action against American on the grounds that the requirements of the Louisiana Direct Action Statute had not been met; the court of appeals, on the other hand, relied on this court's reasoning in Backhus v. Transit Casualty Co.,[4] as well as on dicta in Deshotels v. SHRM Catering Services, Inc.,[5] to conclude that the P & I policy American issued to Gulf was an "ocean marine" policy and as such was excluded altogether from the application of the Direct Action Statute.

Meanwhile, two Louisiana courts of appeal held that an injured party may maintain a direct action against a P & I insurer under the Direct Action Statute. See Hae Woo Youn v. Maritime Overseas Corp., 605 So.2d 187 (La.App. 5th Cir.), writ denied, 609 So.2d 240 (1992), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 2342, 124 L.Ed.2d 252 (1993), writ granted, 609 So.2d 239 (1992), vacated in part on other grounds, 623 So.2d 1257 (1993), and Treadway v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, No. 92-C-1500 (La.App. 4th Cir. Sept. 15, 1992).[6] Noting that the Louisiana appellate court decisions "cast some doubt on how the Louisiana Supreme Court would resolve this issue," the Fifth Circuit granted Grubbs' petition for rehearing, withdrew its original opinion, and certified the question stated above to this court. 985 F.2d at 763.

II. LAW AND ANALYSIS

The Louisiana Direct Action Statute generally allows an injured party to proceed directly against an insurance company which has issued a policy or contract of insurance against the liability of the insured tortfeasor.[7] The issue in this case is whether *498 the Direct Action Statute applies to marine P & I insurance.

A. The Law as Written

By its literal terms, the Direct Action Statute applies to "all liability policies." La.Rev. Stat. 22:655(D) (emphasis added). Likewise, this court held in Quinlan v. Liberty Bank and Trust Co., 575 So.2d 336, 347 (La.1990), that "the statute applies to any insurance against the liability of the insured for the personal injury or corporeal property damage to a tort victim, regardless of whether the policy is framed in liability or indemnity terms ..." (emphasis added). Additionally, the Louisiana Insurance Code classifies "Marine protection and indemnity insurance" as one of five types of "Marine and transportation (inland marine)" insurance and defines P & I insurance as

insurance against, or against legal liability of the insured for, loss, damage, or expense incident to ownership, operation, chartering, maintenance, use, repair or construction of any vessel, craft or instrumentality in use in ocean or inland waterways, including liability of the insured for personal injury, illness or death or for loss of or damage to the property of another person.

La.Rev.Stat. 22:6(13)(e) (emphasis added).

Considering the plain meaning of the language in the Direct Action Statute, the language in Quinlan, and the Insurance Code definition of P & I insurance, it would seem to follow that the Direct Action Statute applies to P & I insurance as well as to other types of liability insurance.[8] Moreover, as we observed in Quinlan:

[I]t is well settled that the statute is remedial and should be liberally construed to accomplish its purpose of affording a person suffering loss or damage a direct action against a tortfeasor's insurer. It is consistent with the principle of liberal construction to uphold the direct action when an insurer, charged with knowledge of the law, issues a policy specifically insuring against liability, rather than indemnifying against loss, in the face of the Direct Action Statute, which applies to every "policy or contract of liability insurance" and proclaims that "all liability policies within their terms and limits are executed for the benefit of all injured persons".

Quinlan, 575 So.2d at 353 (citations omitted). When the Direct Action Statute is interpreted in reference to other provisions in the *499 Insurance Code, however, the law is not so clear and unambiguous.[9]

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Grubbs v. Gulf Intern. Marine, Inc., 625 So. 2d 495, 1994 A.M.C. 244, 1993 La. LEXIS 2959, 1993 WL 427303 (La. 1993).

625 So. 2d 495 (Grubbs v. Gulf Intern. Marine, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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