Fireman's Fund v. OOCL
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DMC/SandT/04/61 The New York City Civil Court granted summary judgment against an insurance company pursuing a subrogated claim against a container line. The insurer sought damages for the line’s misplacement of a New York-bound shipment of doors and windows from Germany. The shipping company had represented to the cargo owner that its shipment could not be located and had been apparently stolen, but it later located the cargo and delivered the shipment in good condition. The court ruled the carrier’s failure to unload the container at New York and its on-carriage of the container to Japan and back was not an unreasonable deviation because the carrier’s actions were not undertaken voluntarily. The court rejected the insurer’s claim for negligent misrepresentation on the ground that the shipping company owed the cargo owner no duties except those created by and arising out of the shipping contract, a bill of lading. Moreover, the court found that the alleged negligent misrepresentation was not a misrepresentation in the first instance because the shipping company had never definitely advised the cargo owner that its container had been "stolen." DMC Category: Developed Case note contributed by David Jensen of the firm Healy & Baillie, LLP in New York. Healy & Baillie are the International Contributors to the site for the United States. Background On March 24, 2000, the container was located: it had not been unloaded in New York but had instead traveled first to Japan and then to California. When the container finally was discharged in New York its cargo was apparently undamaged. No claim for cargo damage was presented in the suit against OOCL. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. ("Fireman’s Fund"), as subrogee of Tischler, brought an action against OOCL claiming damages resulting from the delayed delivery. OOCL applied to the court for summary judgment on the ground that the bill of lading provided no particular delivery time and, further, that it had disclaimed any liability resulting from delay. Fireman’s Fund argued that OOCL could not disclaim damages for delay because it had unreasonably deviated from the contract voyage. Fireman’s Fund also claimed that OOCL’s February 29 statement (that the container was apparently stolen but that OOCL would wait to report the theft to the authorities) was a negligent misrepresentation sufficient to create a liability in tort, and it applied to the court for summary judgment on this ground. Judgment As to Fireman’s Fund’s negligent misrepresentation claim, the court ruled that Fireman’s Fund had "failed to identify an independent duty on which to base its tort claim." Instead, "the parties’ legal duties and correlative responsibilities arose entirely from" the contract for carriage. Because OOCL owed no duties beyond those contained within the Tischler-OOCL contract, Fireman’s Fund (as Tischler’s subrogee) could not "circumvent the provisions of the contract" by recovering under a tort theory. Even though the court had ruled that the claim was not tortious, it nevertheless analyzed the merits of Fireman’s Fund’s negligent misrepresentation allegation. Judge Rakower ruled that the statement was insufficient to create such liability because "there is nothing to indicate that [OOCL] definitely told Tischler that its container was stolen." OOCL’s communications on the matter "remained equivocal" until OOCL advised Tischler that its container had been located and was being returned to New York. The court stated "the statement that the carrier was requesting 24 hours before taking further action was not alleged to be false" and thus could not give rise to a cause of action for negligent misrepresentation. Comment |
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