North American Foreign Trading Corp. v. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Usa, Inc.

292 F. App'x 73
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJuly 24, 2008
DocketNos. 07-2442-cv(L), 07-2502-cv(xap), 07-2505-cv(xap)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 292 F. App'x 73 (North American Foreign Trading Corp. v. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Usa, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
North American Foreign Trading Corp. v. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Usa, Inc., 292 F. App'x 73 (2d Cir. 2008).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance USA, Inc. and MSI Claims, Inc. (collectively “Mitsui”) were found liable following a bench trial for losses of goods from two Chinese warehouses, Cidmate and Lionda, sustained by Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant North American Foreign Trading Corp. (“NAFT”). The District Court (Shira A. Scheindlin, Judge) awarded NAFT $1,125,000 in damages for the Cidmate losses and $6,300,000 in damages for the Lionda losses. N. Am. Foreign Trading Corp. v. Mitsui Sumitomo Ins. USA, Inc., 499 F.Supp.2d 361 (S.D.N.Y.2007). The District Court subsequently ruled that NAFT was not entitled to prejudgment interest on either claim. N. Am. Foreign Trading Corp. v. Mitsui Sumitomo Ins. USA Inc., Nos. 05 Civ. 4807, 05 Civ. 5827, 2007 WL 2873926 (S.D.N.Y. May 15, 2007).

Mitsui timely appealed, challenging the District Court’s judgment only with respect to the Lionda claim. Mitsui raises three main issues on appeal, arguing (A) that the District Court improperly exercised its admiralty jurisdiction over this case; (B) that the District Court abused its discretion in estopping Mitsui from asserting a limitations defense with respect to the Lionda claim; and (C) that the District Court abused its discretion in es-topping Mitsui from contesting the location and amount of the missing goods in the Lionda matter. NAFT timely cross-appealed, arguing that the District Court abused its discretion in denying prejudgment interest on both the Cidmate and Lionda claims. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts, procedural histo[75]*75ry, and scope of the issues presented on appeal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the District Court’s judgment on the Lionda claim, reverse its denial of prejudgment interest on both claims, and remand for further proceedings.

A. Jurisdiction

On de novo review, we find that the District Court properly exercised its admiralty jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333(1). “[I]n examining whether admiralty jurisdiction encompasses a claim, a federal court must initially determine whether the subject matter of the dispute is so attenuated from the business of maritime commerce that it does not implicate the concerns underlying admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.” Atl. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Balfour Maclaine Int’l Ltd., 968 F.2d 196, 200 (2d Cir.1992) (internal quotation marks omitted). This threshold inquiry, if still required after Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. Kirby, 543 U.S. 14, 125 S.Ct. 385, 160 L.Ed.2d 283 (2004), see Folksamerica Reinsurance Co. v. Clean Water of New York, Inc., 413 F.3d 307, 313-14 (2d Cir.2005) (questioning its vitality), is satisfied in this case. NAFT’s goods were shipped to the United States by ocean transit, returned to China by ocean transit, and were to be transported back to the United States by ocean transit had they' not disappeared mysteriously from Chinese warehouses. Cf. In re Balfour MacLaine Int’l Ltd., 85 F.3d 68, 74-75 (2d Cir.1996); Atl. Mut. Ins. Co., 968 F.2d at 200. Moreover, we find that admiralty jurisdiction was proper because “the primary or principal objective of the [insurance] contract is the establishment of policies of marine insurance.” Folksamerica, 413 F.3d at 315 (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Norfolk Southern, 543 U.S. at 23-24, 125 S.Ct. 385 (“[W]hether a contract is a maritime one ... ‘depends upon ... the nature and character of the contract,’ and the true criterion is whether it has ‘reference to maritime service or maritime transactions.’ ” (quoting N. Pac. S.S. Co. v. Hall Bros. Marine Ry. & Shipbuilding Co., 249 U.S. 119, 125, 39 S.Ct. 221, 63 L.Ed. 510 (1919))).

B. Estoppel fx’om Asserting Limitations Period

A district court’s rulings as to equitable estoppel of a limitations defense are reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Zerilli-Edelglass v. New York City Transit Auth., 333 F.3d 74, 81 (2d Cir.2003). A district court abuses its discretion when, inter alia, its decision rests on an error of law or a clearly erroneous factual finding. Zervos v. Verizou, New York, Inc., 252 F.3d 163, 169 (2d Cir.2001). The insured may establish estoppel under New York law by pi’oving that the insurer, “by its conduct, ... lulled [the insured] into sleeping on its rights under the insurance contract.” Gilbert Frank Corp. v. Fed. Ins. Co., 70 N.Y.2d 966, 968, 525 N.Y.S.2d 793, 520 N.E.2d 512, 514 (N.Y.1988); see also Cardinale v. Genesee Valley Med. Care, 94 A.D.2d 966, 967, 463 N.Y.S.2d 972, 973 (4th Dep’t 1983) (insurer may be estopped from asserting limitation period where its agent met with insured and advised that her claim would be submitted to reinstatement committee with recommendation that it be approved); Plan Realty Corp. v. Travelers Ins. Co., 533 F.Supp.2d 391, 395 (S.D.N.Y. 2008) (“Only if a earner engages in a course of conduct which lulls the policy holder into inactivity in the belief that its claim will be paid, or where the insured is induced by fraud or misrepresentation to refrain from commencing a timely action, will the carrier be estopped from asserting the statute of limitations defense.”). In addition, as the District Court noted, the parties owed each other at the least “the duty of good faith and fair dealing.” N. [76]*76Am. Foreign Trading Corp., 499 F.Supp.2d at 377.

The District Court did not exceed its allowable discretion in estopping Mitsui from asserting its limitations defense. The record shows that (1) as of April 29, 2005, Mitsui effectively completed its investigation into the facts of the Lionda claim, confirming NAFT’s loss; (2) by May 2, 2005, Mitsui formulated its coverage position on the scope of the Warehouse Endorsement, interpreting the policy as providing only named perils coverage for the missing goods, and Mitsui expected that this interpretation would apply equally to the Cidmate and Lionda claims, providing a basis for denying both claims because mysterious disappearance was not a named peril; (3) on May 2, 2005, Mitsui communicated this coverage position to NAFT in its letter declining coverage on the Cidmate claim and yet Mitsui failed to issue a declination letter on the Lionda matter; (4) without any justification, Mit-sui took from April 29 until May 25 to change its “draft” investigative report into an identical version marked “final,” having told NAFT that it was awaiting the report before making its coverage decision; and (5) despite the foregoing, Mitsui waited until June 16, 2005 — four days after the date when, according to Mitsui’s files, NAFT’s one-year limitations period expired — to issue its declination letter on the Lionda claim, which was substantially identical to the Cidmate declination letter it had sent forty-five days earlier.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 F. App'x 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/north-american-foreign-trading-corp-v-mitsui-sumitomo-insurance-usa-inc-ca2-2008.