TORRUELLA, Circuit Judge.
This is an appeal from a decision of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico sitting in admiralty. The trial involved a maritime insurance policy issued by Appellee Catlin (Syndicate 2003) at Lloyd's ("Catlin"), to cover the floating drydock
In 2006, SJT retained the services of Marine Consultants, Inc. ("Marine Consultants") to perform a condition and valuation survey of the floating drydock PERSEVERANCE. In that survey, which was dated April 17, 2006, the PERSEVERANCE was valued at $1,500,000. Thereafter, on August 27, 2006, SJT purchased the PERSEVERANCE for $1,050,000. Subsequently, SJT made improvements to the floating drydock, modifying it so that it could be towed from Louisiana to Puerto Rico. Marine Consultants then issued another condition and valuation report on November 21, 2006, in which it valued the floating drydock at $1,750,000. This $250,000 increase in value from the first report to the second was the result of the value added to the floating drydock due to the improvements and modifications that allowed the PERSEVERANCE to be towed to Puerto Rico.
By 2009, and as late as 2011, due to declining business and increasing financial distress, SJT was actively trying to sell the PERSEVERANCE. SJT had initially advertised the sale price in 2009 as $1,350,000. In February 2010, SJT advertised the floating drydock for sale in Boats & Harbors — a marine industry publication — for $1,350,000. During January 2011, SJT continued to advertise the PERSEVERANCE for sale at $1,350,000. On January 3, 2011, a potential buyer offered to purchase the floating drydock for $700,000. As negotiations progressed throughout the month, SJT lowered the PERSEVERANCE's purchase price to $850,000, and eventually, on January 29, 2011, to $800,000. That potential buyer ultimately did not consummate the purchase.
In April 2011, SJT again advertised the PERSEVERANCE for sale in Boats & Harbors. This time the asking price was $800,000. Five months later, on September 4, 2011, SJT agreed to sell the PERSEVERANCE to Leevac Shipyards ("Leevac"), a Louisiana-based company, and on September 19, 2011, SJT signed a purchase-and-sale agreement in which it accepted Leevac's offer to purchase the floating drydock for $700,000. The deal later fell through.
Between August 2006 and February 2011, SJT insured the PERSEVERANCE with the RLI Insurance Company ("RLI"), with a declared hull value of the PERSEVERANCE under this policy of $1,750,000, presumably based on the second Marine Consultants condition and valuation report dated on November 21, 2006. In February 2011, RLI cancelled the drydock's insurance policy, cryptically stating "Loss History"
Thereafter, at SJT's request, SJT's insurance broker, John Toscani ("Toscani"), who was located in New York, approached Catlin seeking, through Lloyd's, a marine insurance policy "consisting of hull, [protection and indemnity], ship repairs, general liability and contractor's equipment" (emphasis added). SJT's broker represented that the PERSEVERANCE's prior insurance coverage was for $1,750,000, but did not provide Catlin with a copy of RLI's notice of cancellation. The parties agree that SJT did not provide additional representations
Thereafter, the Catlin policy — the Ocean Marine Insurance Policy (the "Policy") — became effective in April 2011, with a total insurable value of $1,840,000. The Policy, however, contained an endorsement that modified its terms to list the insured value at $1,750,000, the same stated amount in the previous RLI policy. Additionally, the total limit of liability for each loss occurrence was set at $1,000,000.
On September 28, 2011, the PERSEVERANCE was berthed at Pier 15, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. At the direction of Mark Payne ("Payne"), one of SJT's principals, the floating drydock was ballasted
Late that evening, SJT tug Captain Padilla ("Padilla") returned to Pier 15 after a towing assignment and found the PERSEVERANCE with its aft section completely underwater and its forward part awash. Padilla proceeded to call Payne on his cell phone to inform him of the dire situation the PERSEVERANCE was in, but ten minutes later, at about midnight, called him again to inform him of the total sinking of the PERSEVERANCE. Payne arrived shortly thereafter and, together with Padilla, observed that a fire hose connected to a water main on the dock was still pumping water into the sunken drydock, with the valve on shore still in an open position. Payne proceeded to shut the valve, which was easily seen and accessible to anyone who wished to turn off the flow of water.
Refloating the PERSEVERANCE turned out to be a challenging process, taking nearly one month to complete. After being refloated, the PERSEVERANCE was inspected and the damage assessed by expert marine surveyors. The surveyors found the underside of the floating drydock to be substantially rusted and decayed, the existence of which SJT had known about but failed to disclose to Catlin when it sought coverage under the Policy. This damage explained why refloating the PERSEVERANCE — a drydock that was designed specifically to be able to submerge and refloat using its ballast tanks — had been so difficult. During the month of December 2012, the drydock was sold for scrap for $40,000.00.
SJT proceeded to file a claim with Catlin, alleging the total loss of the PERSEVERANCE, in the amount of $1,750,000. Catlin denied this claim, relying on the discrepancy between the amount the PERSEVERANCE was insured for according
To afford a better understanding of the final resolution of this appeal, we deem it appropriate to include a résumé of the procedural history of this case before the district court. On November 8, 2011, Catlin filed a declaratory judgement complaint against SJT, invoking both admiralty (28 U.S.C. § 1333) and diversity (28 U.S.C. § 1332) jurisdiction. Catlin alleged eight admiralty or maritime claims and sought to void the Policy pursuant to the doctrine of uberrimae fidei. In turn, SJT filed a separate diversity suit against Catlin, demanding recovery for the full insured value of $1,750,000 under the Policy for the loss of the PERSEVERANCE. Catlin counterclaimed and the cases were consolidated.
On April 8, 2013, the district court granted SJT's motion for partial summary judgment and dismissed without prejudice the claim brought by Catlin, concluding that under the recently decided case of Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 735, 184 L.Ed.2d 604 (2013), the court lacked admiralty jurisdiction over this controversy because the PERSEVERANCE was not a "vessel."
On May 13, 2013, the district court entertained a motion for reconsideration of its ruling in Catlin I. Although the court continued to adhere to its finding that the PERSEVERANCE failed to meet the Lozman standard as to what constitutes a vessel for the purposes of admiralty jurisdiction, it nevertheless concluded that admiralty jurisdiction was present because the central issue of the controversy concerned a maritime contract — i.e., the Policy — the "primary objective" of which was "essentially maritime [in] nature" and "relates to navigation, business or commerce of the sea." Catlin (Syndicate 2003) at Lloyd's v. San Juan Towing & Marine Servs., Inc., 946 F.Supp.2d 256, 260 (D.P.R.2013) ("Catlin II"); see also Norfolk S. Ry. Co. v. James N. Kirby, Pty Ltd., 543 U.S. 14, 24-25, 125 S.Ct. 385, 160 L.Ed.2d 283 (2004). It also ruled that Catlin's complaint properly pleaded diversity jurisdiction and found diversity to be an alternate ground for the exercise of federal jurisdiction, even if not in admiralty. See Catlin II, 946 F.Supp.2d at 267.
On July 30, 2013, the district court once again opined on the dispute, this time regarding
On October 8, 2013, after a bench trial, the district court resolved the merits of this controversy. See Catlin (Syndicate 2003) at Lloyd's v. San Juan Towing & Marine Servs., Inc., 979 F.Supp.2d 181, 191 (D.P.R.2013) ("Catlin IV"). Having already ruled in Catlin III that uberrimae fidei was an entrenched doctrine governing maritime insurance contracts, the court made findings of fact in support of its eventual conclusion that SJT had failed to comply with the doctrine of uberrimae fidei in its application for the Policy, and was therefore barred from recovery thereunder. Id. at 186-191.
The application of the doctrine of uberrimae fidei to this controversy (as decided in Catlin III), which in modern American jurisprudence is extant only in the context of maritime insurance,
As a general rule, in the absence of established and governing federal admiralty law, the states have largely unfettered power to regulate matters related to marine insurance. See Wilburn Boat Co. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 348 U.S. 310, 321, 75 S.Ct. 368, 99 L.Ed. 337 (1955) ("We, like Congress, leave the regulation of marine insurance where it has been — with the States."); Commercial Union Ins. Co. v. Pesante, 459 F.3d 34, 37 (1st Cir.2006) ("Generally, in cases involving a marine insurance contract, we will apply state law....").
Under Sections 7 and 8 of the Jones Act, now codified at 48 U.S.C. §§ 747-749, because Puerto Rico has control over its harbors and navigable waters, we are required to treat Puerto Rico like a state. However, in the absence of a federal statute expressly made applicable to Puerto Rico, Sections 8, 9, and 37
Guerrido, 234 F.2d at 355. The exercise of that power by Puerto Rico can have the effect of rendering conflicting non-statutory federal maritime law "locally inapplicable." Id.
SJT contends that Section 1110 of the Code should be deemed to be the kind of conflicting local legislation that can render inapplicable non-statutory admiralty law, including the doctrine of uberrimae fidei. Section 1110 states:
P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 1110. Therefore, SJT urges us to apply the more favorable Section 1110, in lieu of the stricter uberrimae fidei doctrine.
We disagree with SJT's contention. This provision is not relevant to the present case because the applicability provision of the Code, Section 1101, expressly excludes ocean marine insurance from the ambit of the Code. Section 1101 states:
See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26, § 1101 (emphasis added). This Court has previously ruled that in enacting this provision, Puerto Rico intended "to exclude maritime insurance contracts from [the] statutory provisions [in the Code] governing the interpretation and construction of insurance contracts." Lloyd's of London v. Pagán-Sánchez, 539 F.3d 19, 25 (1st Cir.2008); see also Reifer-Mapp v. 7 Maris, Inc., 830 F.Supp. 72, 76 (D.P.R.1993).
It is exactly the kind of coverage described in Section 1101 of the Code that was provided to SJT by Catlin in the Policy:
(emphasis added). Therefore, there can be no doubt that the Policy is an ocean marine insurance policy within the meaning of Section 1101, because the PERSEVERANCE is a "craft" and/or a "hull," and the Policy covers maritime interests and risks. As previously stated, the Policy was procured for SJT by Toscani, who "placed a package policy consisting of hull, P & I, ship repairs, legal, general liability and contractors equipment" (emphasis added), with Catlin. Indeed, Toscani admitted that he considered the Policy to be a marine insurance policy. It contained Endorsement 5 ("Drydock"), which provided coverage for the PERSEVERANCE, and specifically identified the perils insured against as principally those related to the seas and related maritime risks:
The district court's findings regarding the PERSEVERANCE support the conclusion that the Policy covered a structure within the ocean marine insurance exception to the Code:
Catlin I, 2013 WL 1403264, at *___ - ___, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52307, at *6-8.
Id., 2013 WL 1403264, at *___ - ___, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52307, at *8-9.
Finally, based on the evidence presented, the district court found as follows: "The Perseverance was designed, constructed, and used to provide marine maintenance and repair services to vessels," and "[i]ts intended use [was] to lift floating equipment for inspection and repair." Id.
We again note that the Policy expressly included "hull" coverage for the PERSEVERANCE. At a minimum, the description
Not to be ignored is the obvious fact that we are dealing with a floating structure, at least one that should be floating under normal conditions, even when partly flooded to take on a ship in need of repairs. It is difficult to countenance the existence of a structure that not only floats on pontoons, performs essential maritime repair work on the water, and is capable of being towed (and in fact has been towed thousands of miles on the open ocean) without concluding that it is a "hull" or a "craft."
We need to discuss one final argument raised by SJT before entering into a discussion of the merits of whether the uberrimae fidei doctrine applies to this controversy: namely, SJT's contention that the controlling definition for what constitutes "marine and transportation insurance" is contained in Section 405 of Code, and not Section 1101. See P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 26 § 405. According to SJT, because Section 405(d) "includ[es] dry docks" as one of the structures covered by Section 405's definition of "marine insurance," the Policy in this case, which covers a floating drydock, is not within the ocean marine insurance exclusion contained in Section 1101. See id. Thus, SJT alleges Section 405 bars application of uberrimae fidei.
There are at least two fundamental reasons why SJT's argument on this issue is flawed. The first is that a plain reading of Section 1101 clearly establishes that the controlling definition for the entire Code as to what is marine insurance is found in that section of the Code. Section 1101(2) specifically states that for "purposes of subsection (1) of this section [which establishes the exclusion of ocean marine insurance from application of the Code] and this title, `ocean marine ... insurances' shall include only: (a) Insurances upon vessels, crafts, hulls, and of interests therein or with relation thereto." P.R.
The second point is that there is no such conflict because the "dry docks" referred to in Section 405(1)(d) are totally different structures than the floating drydock involved in the present case. All the utilities referred to in Section 405(1)(d) are fixed, land-based structures, e.g., "piers, wharves, docks and slips, and other aids to navigation and transportation, including dry dock and marine railways, dams and appurtenant facilities for the control of waterways." No legislative intent is discernible from this language to support the conclusion that we should include a movable, floating structure within that fixed, land-based conglomerate. Thus, Section 405 does not have any bearing on floating drydocks.
In the present case, there is no local legislation that is "inconsistent" with federal admiralty law. Thus, based on the meaning of the terms craft and hull, the factual findings of the district court as to the PERSEVERANCE's structure and function, the language of the Policy and the circumstances surrounding its procurement, and the clear dictate of Section 1101, the Policy is expressly excluded from the ambit of the Code by the "carve out" delimited in Section 1101.
Presented twice with this issue previously, we have not yet taken an authoritative stance on whether uberrimae fidei is an established rule of maritime law. See Pesante, 459 F.3d at 38 ("While we have never actually decided the issue, it is true that we have questioned whether uberrimae fidei is an established rule of maritime law."); Giragosian, 57 F.3d at 54 n. 3 ("[I]t is debatable whether the doctrine can still be deemed an `entrenched' rule of law."). The question of whether a doctrine is an established rule of maritime law, though seemingly abstruse, is of vital importance in admiralty cases as it can prove to be dispositive in controversies such as the dispute at hand. This is because for marine insurance contract cases, we only apply federal maritime rules that are established and settled; otherwise we would look to state law. See Pesante, 459 F.3d at 37; Giragosian, 57 F.3d at 54.
Marine insurance is vital to the adequate flow of commerce. The nature of the risks that are covered by maritime insurance is such that, given the urgent necessity for the placement of this type of insurance coverage that is often present in the business of maritime commerce, as well as the extreme distances that often separate the insurance seeker and the insurer, it is imperative that the insurer be provided with truthful and valid information about the risk the insurer is asked to undertake by the party most able to provide such data: the insured.
Although this court had not yet held definitively that uberrimae fidei is an established rule of maritime law, we do so now, thus joining the near-unanimous consensus of our sister circuits,
Then, in 1991, the Fifth Circuit held in Anh Thi Kieu that uberrimae fidei was not established maritime law, a decision that the Ninth Circuit has characterized as an "abrupt[] change[] [in] course". Id. at 652 (referencing Anh Thi Kieu, 927 F.2d at 889-90). "Ironically, were it not for the Anh Thi Kieu decision itself, there would be little cause at all to doubt that uberrimae fidei is indeed firmly entrenched maritime law." Id.
We find it instructive that following our 2006 decision in Pesante, in which we questioned whether uberrimae fidei was an established rule of maritime law, 459 F.3d at 38, three of our sister circuits — the Third Circuit in 2008, the Ninth Circuit in 2008, and the Eighth Circuit in 2014 — formally recognized the doctrine as established admiralty law. See N.Y. Marine & Gen. Ins. Co., 761 F.3d at 839; AGF Marine Aviation & Transp., 544 F.3d at 263; Inlet Fisheries Inc., 518 F.3d at 654. Moreover, the Second and Eleventh Circuits — courts that have recognized uberrimae fidei as an established maritime rule
We finally proceed to an analysis of the application of uberrimae fidei to this case.
Under uberrimae fidei, when the marine insured fails to disclose to the marine insurer all circumstances known to it and unknown to the insurer which "materially affect the insurer's risk," the insurer may void the marine insurance policy at its option. Giragosian, 57 F.3d at 55. In other words, the policy becomes voidable.
SJT violated the doctrine of uberrimae fidei in its procurement of the Policy. Thus, Catlin was entitled to void the Policy. The decision of the district court is affirmed, however, its holding is modified to reflect that the contract was voidable, not void ab initio.
While the term "hull" is ill-defined in federal admiralty law, in contrast to "vessel," which has been the subject of extensive and ongoing discussion, it is nonetheless clear that the term is applicable to a structure such as the PERSEVERENCE. See Eric Sullivan, The Marine Encyclopaedic Dictionary 209 (5th ed.1996) (defining a hull as the "[s]hell or body of a ship"). Interestingly, the origin of this nautical term appears to be botanical:
John Ayoto, Dictionary of Word Origins 289 (1990). As a floating drydock unquestionably has the form of a shell afloat in the water, it can be aptly described as a hull.