Citations
- 358 F. Supp. 386
Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
BRIEANT, District Judge.
Defendants move for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, solely as to plaintiff “Director General of the India Supply Mission for and on behalf of The President of the Union of India” (hereinafter “Supply Mission”), pursuant to Rule 56, F.R.Civ.P., on the ground that there exists between plaintiff Supply Mission and defendants, no real “ease or controversy” over which the Court may exercise jurisdiction under Article III, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution.
There are no disputed issues of material fact. Plaintiffs are the owners of mixed cargo aboard the steamship VISHVA MANGAL. A fire occurred aboard the vessel on October 20, 1967 at Searsport, Maine.
Jurisdiction is founded on 28 U.S.C. § 1333. The dispute arises out of a maritime contract of carriage evidenced by a bill of lading issued by the Master of the VISHVA MANGAL at Pascagoula, Mississippi for 100,000 bags (5,000 metric tons) of ammonium phosphate owned by Supply Mission for discharge at Madras or Calcutta, India. Liability is founded upon claims of unseaworthiness and negligence.
Defendant vessel and her owner' entered a general appearance in thig Court, presumably because the vessel could have been arrested within this District.
While the action is, at least in name, between the owner of the cargo, and the vessel or her owners, in actuality, as Chief Judge Friendly of this Circuit has remarked [Leather’s Best, Inc. v. S. S. MORMACLYNX, 451 F.2d 800, 815 (2d Cir. 1971)], “. . . the cargo insurer-er [is] admittedly the true plaintiff here.”
Permitting insurers of cargo to sue as subrogees in the name of the owners is a long standing admiralty tradition. As expressed in Colinvaux, Carver’s Carriage By Sea, 12th ed. (London, 1971) vol. 2, p. 1183:
“Underwriters entitled to benefit. And if the person who has been damnified was insured against such a loss, and has been indemnified by the underwriters, he may still sue f