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01-1499 In Re Complaint of Holly Marine Towing, Inc., owner of the Barge HMT 7, for exoneration from or limitation of liability

By: dmc-admin//October 29, 2001//

01-1499 In Re Complaint of Holly Marine Towing, Inc., owner of the Barge HMT 7, for exoneration from or limitation of liability

By: dmc-admin//October 29, 2001//

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“The obvious reason is that without it the objective of the Limitation Act would be defeated by the happenstance of the shipowner’s not being the only tortfeasor. What sense would that make?

“For in a suit for contribution JLG might try to show that Holly’s stake exceeded $10,900 and if it obtained a ruling to that effect it might try to plead that ruling as res judicata in the postponed limitation proceeding. Gindl and Staal go further, acknowledging in their brief that Holly may well end up paying more than its limitation: ‘If Gindl or Staal prevail against JLG, Holly may be at risk only to the extent that its proportional share of any judgment exceeds the value of the barge and its contents.’ ‘Only’? But suppose Gindl and Staal obtained a judgment against JLG for $2 million and Holly’s proportionate share was adjudged in a suit for contribution by JLG to be 50 percent. Then Holly would be $1 million in the hole even if the value of its investment in the barge was, as it claims, only one one-hundredth of that amount. That result would be contrary to the Limitation Act, but the fact that Gindl and Staal think it’s possible augurs a long litigation road ahead for Holly.

“In these circumstances, the partial dissolution of the injunction deprived Holly of its statutory rights and was therefore unreasonable.”

Reversed and remanded.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kennelly, J., Posner, J.

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