Gulf Wide Towing, Inc. v. FE WRIGHT (UK) LTD.

554 So. 2d 1347, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 2769, 1989 WL 159275
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 19, 1989
DocketCA 88 1747
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 554 So. 2d 1347 (Gulf Wide Towing, Inc. v. FE WRIGHT (UK) LTD.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gulf Wide Towing, Inc. v. FE WRIGHT (UK) LTD., 554 So. 2d 1347, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 2769, 1989 WL 159275 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

554 So.2d 1347 (1989)

GULF WIDE TOWING, INC.
v.
F.E. WRIGHT (U.K.) LIMITED, et al.

No. CA 88 1747.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

December 19, 1989.

*1349 B.J. Rawls, Morgan City, John Haas Weinstein, Opelousas, for plaintiff-appellee.

Robert B. Acomb, Jr., and Glenn G. Goodier, New Orleans, for Grand Union Ins. Co., Ltd.

Before EDWARDS, LANIER and FOIL, JJ.

LANIER, Judge.

This action is a suit in contract for recovery of insurance proceeds allegedly due as a result of the sinking of the towboat, M/V MISS JULIE MAC, in the Gulf of Mexico. Suit was filed by Gulf Wide Towing, Inc. (Gulf Wide), owner of the M/V MISS JULIE MAC, against F.E. Wright (U.K.) Limited (F.E. Wright), Kasko & Lager International, LTD. (Kasko & Lager), Grand Union Insurance Co., LTD. (Grand Union), Great Intercontinental Insurance Company (Great Intercontinental), Associated Insurance Managers, Inc. (AIM) and International Marine & Reinsurance Inc. (IMR). Guaranty Bank & Trust of Morgan City (Guaranty Bank) intervened seeking to recover the insurance proceeds as the named loss payee under the insurance policy. The defendants other than Grand Union and Great Intercontinental settled their portions of the claim prior to trial. The trial court found as fact that Grand Union and Great Intercontinental provided twenty-five percent (25%) and fifteen percent (15%), respectively, of the $1,280,000 in hull insurance coverage on the M/V MISS JULIE MAC and that they were arbitrary and capricious in refusing Gulf Wide's claim. The trial court rendered judgment against Grand Union for $320,000, together with statutory penalties of twelve percent (12%) of the amount due and an attorney fee of thirty-three and one-third percent (331/3%) on the entire amount awarded. The trial court rendered judgment against Great Intercontinental for $192,000, together with penalties of twelve percent (12%) and attorney fees of thirty-three and one-third percent (331/3%) on the entire amount awarded, subject to a credit of $116,409.43 already paid. The trial court also recognized the intervention of Guaranty Bank. Grand Union took this devolutive appeal.

FACTS

The M/V MISS JULIE MAC was a towboat owned by Gulf Wide. In 1984, Mike Smith, president and sole shareholder of Gulf Wide, contacted Vicky Babineaux with AIM in Morgan City, Louisiana, in an effort to secure marine insurance to cover the M/V MISS JULIE MAC and other vessels owned by Gulf Wide. Babineaux, in an effort to secure this coverage, contacted IMR in Cocoa Beach, Florida, which in turn contacted Kasko & Lager in London, England. Kasko & Lager eventually secured several London underwriters to agree to insure the vessels. As a result, Kasko & Lager issued a cover note to IMR which stated the types and amounts of coverage on the M/V MISS JULIE MAC and other vessels owned by Gulf Wide. This cover note listed the London underwriters and the percentage of coverage each had bound itself to provide. Attached hereto as Appendix A is the Kasko & Lager cover note. IMR issued a similar cover note to AIM who eventually issued a policy based on this cover note to Gulf Wide. All of the documents indicated that Grand Union, a London underwriter, provided twenty-five percent (25%) of the $1,280,000 in hull coverage on the M/V MISS JULIE MAC. *1350 Gulf Wide paid a premium of $159,449.06 to Kasko & Lager for the insurance coverage on the M/V MISS JULIE MAC and other vessels owned by it."

On June 9, 1984, the M/V MISS JULIE MAC sank in the Gulf of Mexico while being towed back to Morgan City for fire damage repairs. Gulf Wide notified AIM of the loss, seeking to recover the hull insurance proceeds on the vessel. Prior to trial, Gulf Wide received sixty percent (60%) of the hull insurance proceeds from various London underwriters. Grand Union refused to pay Gulf Wide's claim for twenty-five percent (25%) of the hull insurance proceeds and asserted that it had not bound itself to provide this coverage.

PERSONAL JURISDICTION OVER GRAND UNION

(Assignment of error number 1)

Grand Union contends that the trial court erred in finding that it had personal jurisdiction over it. Grand Union argues that personal jurisdiction over foreign or alien insurers is controlled by the Louisiana Insurance Code, specifically La.R.S. 22:1249 and 22:1253.

The Louisiana Supreme Court in First Guaranty Bank of Hammond v. Attorneys Liability Assurance Society, LTD., 515 So.2d 1080, 1081-1083 (La.1987) stated the following:

In order for a Louisiana court to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant, there must be a state statute that authorizes the court to do so and the exercise of personal jurisdiction over the particular nonresident defendant must not offend the "traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice" embodied in the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment....
A brief history of Louisiana's long-arm statute is necessary to resolve the issue before us. When Louisiana's long-arm statute, La.R.S. 13:3201, was first enacted in 1964, it provided:
A court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident, who acts directly or by an agent, as to a cause of action arising from the nonresident's
(a) transacting any business in this state;
(b) contracting to supply services or things in this state;
(c) causing injury or damage by an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission in this state;
(d) causing injury or damage in this state by an offense or quasi offense committed through an act or omission outside of this state if he regularly does or solicits business, or engages in any other persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered, in this state; or
(e) having an interest in, using, or possessing a real right or immovable property in this state.
One of the comments of the Louisiana Law Institute in 1964 stated in part:
It was not felt necessary to extend this section to insurance. Under R.S. 22:1253(A), there is an implied appointment of the Secretary of State as the agent for the service of process on any foreign or alien insurer which is not qualified to do business in Louisiana, but which transacts business in this state....
Prior to the 1987 amendment, the long-arm statute had been amended several times to add other activities to the list, but nothing was ever added specifically to cover nonresident insurers. Even though La.R.S. 22:1253(D) provides that "[n]othing in this Section contained shall limit or abridge the right to serve any process, notice or demand upon any insurer in any other manner now or hereafter permitted by law," there was arguably no other statute besides 1253(A) that provided for jurisdiction over ALAS until the 1987 amendment to the long-arm statute.

In 1987, the Louisiana Legislature amended La.R.S. 13:3201 (the long-arm statute) by adding the following subsection:

*1351 B. In addition to the provisions of Subsection A, a court of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident on any basis consistent with the constitution of this state and of the Constitution of the United States.
The addition of Subsection B makes other statutes (like La.R.S. 22:1253(A)) that assert personal jurisdiction over nonresident defendants unnecessary.

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Bluebook (online)
554 So. 2d 1347, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 2769, 1989 WL 159275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gulf-wide-towing-inc-v-fe-wright-uk-ltd-lactapp-1989.