Peninsular Fire Ins. Co. v. Wells

438 So. 2d 46, 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 20164
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 23, 1983
DocketAO-336
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 438 So. 2d 46 (Peninsular Fire Ins. Co. v. Wells) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peninsular Fire Ins. Co. v. Wells, 438 So. 2d 46, 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 20164 (Fla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

438 So.2d 46 (1983)

PENINSULAR FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Insurance Corporation, Appellant,
v.
William S. WELLS, Jr., Appellee.

No. AO-336.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

August 23, 1983.
Rehearing Denied September 26, 1983.

*48 George D. Gabel, Jr., James J. Taylor, Jr., of Wahl & Gabel, Jacksonville, for appellant.

Carl D. Dawson of Dawson, Galant, Sulik, Nichols & Levy, Jacksonville, for appellee.

NIMMONS, Judge.

Peninsular Fire Insurance Company appeals from an adverse judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict in favor of appellee Wells.

Wells, a commercial fisherman and the owner of a fishing fleet including a shrimping vessel known as the "Foxey Lady," sued Peninsular to recover on a policy of marine hull insurance issued to cover certain marine risks.[1]

On February 19, 1980, the Foxey Lady sailed from Key West on a fifteen to eighteen day routine shrimping voyage to the "Tortugas Grounds" in the Gulf of Mexico off Key West. She was under the command of her captain, Julius Singleton. When she did not return and nothing was heard from Captain Singleton or anyone else regarding the fate of the vessel or its crew, Wells filed the instant suit on August 20, 1981, seeking recovery on the policy on the alternative grounds that the Foxey Lady sank due to perils of the sea or that she was lost due to barratry of the master,[2] both of which risks were covered under the policy.

Approximately six weeks prior to the June 21, 1982, trial, Peninsular located the Foxey Lady in Cartagena, Colombia. She had been stripped of her motors and equipment and was virtually a total loss. Meanwhile, Wells, who had made various efforts to discover the fate of the Foxey Lady developed a lead indicating that Captain Singleton was alive and living in Texas. Singleton was located, arrested and returned to Florida in October, 1981, on a charge of theft of the vessel. Singleton gave an unsworn statement to a State Attorney's investigator in Key West which was an exculpatory statement insofar as the alleged theft of the vessel was concerned although it tended to inculpate him in a marijuana smuggling scheme which, according to Singleton's statement, was initiated by Wells. Shortly thereafter, Singleton's deposition was taken and he refused to testify on Fifth Amendment grounds. We will address this statement further, infra, when we discuss appellant's point that the trial court erred in excluding Singleton's statement at trial, Peninsular having been unsuccessful in procuring Singleton's attendance at trial.

As grounds for reversal, appellant asserts: (1) that the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment because the cause of the vessel's loss was its seizure by governmental authority, a peril excluded under the policy; (2) that the evidence at trial was insufficient to prove barratry of the master as the cause of the appellee's loss and thus Peninsular was entitled to a directed verdict; and (3) that the court erred in precluding Peninsular at trial from introducing Captain Singleton's statement as a declaration against interest. We affirm on all points.

I. SUMMARY JUDGMENT — THE SEIZURE EXCLUSION

Peninsular asserts that the evidence before the court on its motion for summary *49 judgment showed that the proximate cause of the loss was not the alleged barratry but the vessel's seizure.[3]

The policy provided for coverage of the following marine risks:

Touching the adventures and perils which this company is contented to bear and take upon itself, they are of the waters named herein, fire, lightning, earthquake, assailing thieves, jettisons, barratry of the Master and Mariners and all other like perils that shall come to the hurt, detriment or damage of the vessel named herein.

The policy excluded loss caused by governmental seizure:

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this policy, this insurance is warranted free from any claim for loss, damage or expense caused by or resulting from capture, seizure, arrest, restraint or detainment, or the consequences thereof or of any attempt thereat, or any taking of the vessel, by requisition or otherwise, whether in time of peace or war and whether lawful or otherwise... . (emphasis added)

We examine the record facts which were before the trial court to determine whether Peninsular was correct in its assertion that there was no genuine issue regarding the proximate cause of the loss, Peninsular contending that such cause was the excluded peril of seizure and not the covered risk of barratry. Movant Peninsular has a heavy burden of showing that there was no genuine issue of material fact remaining for trial. E.g. Visingardi v. Tirone, 193 So.2d 601 (Fla. 1967).

At some point after Peninsular located the Foxey Lady in May, 1982, Peninsular acquired two marine survey reports dated respectively July 18, 1980, and February 1, 1982, which reports were submitted by marine surveyors to the port captain of Cartagena.[4] From these reports, the following information is gleaned. The July, 1980, report indicates that the Foxey Lady arrived at Cartagena to undergo repairs on June 9, 1980, under the command of Captain Singleton. At the time of its arrival in Cartagena, it was in fairly good condition and the necessary repairs were estimated to take six days once the vessel went on drydock. At the time of the July, 1980, marine survey, four crew members, including Captain Singleton, occupied the Foxey Lady.

The subsequent report dated February 1, 1982, recites in part:

The vessel arrived at the port of Cartagena on June 9, 1980, from San Andres to undergo repairs. Subsequently, it sailed for Aruba and was seized by a coast guard of the National Customs, and it has remained in port since then.
* * * * * *
The vessel has been in port for over a year and its papers are in the hands of a lawyer. During this time the vessel was inactive and all its equipment and machinery were taken off.

The report stated that the vessel had been abandoned and was stripped of its main engine and that the engine room was in very bad condition. The hull was also described as being in poor condition. Overall, the Foxey Lady was described as being in very poor condition requiring major repairs estimated to take one month.

*50 There was no indication as to when the vessel was seized or the reason for its seizure. There was no indication as to whether the owner, had he known the whereabouts of the Foxey Lady, might reasonably be expected to have obtained the release of the vessel from the authorities. There was no indication of what became of the crew members. There was no indication as to whether the repairs recommended in the July 18, 1980, report were made and there is little indication as to its condition when it was subsequently seized although the February 1, 1982, report does state that the vessel "has been in port for over a year" and "during this time the vessel was inactive and all its equipment and machinery were taken off."

When the Foxey Lady was overdue from her routine fishing voyage, Wells notified the Coast Guard and his insurer. He also inquired of numerous persons including masters of other vessels regarding leads as to the fate of the vessel.

When Captain Singleton was returned to Florida in October, 1981, Wells took his deposition to attempt to discover what became of the Foxey Lady.

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Bluebook (online)
438 So. 2d 46, 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 20164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peninsular-fire-ins-co-v-wells-fladistctapp-1983.