Bank One Louisiana N.A. v. Mr Dean Mv

293 F.3d 830 (5th Cir. 2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

BargeCarib executed a time charter agreement with Offshore Supply Ships, Inc. (Offshore), owner of the towboat M/V Sovereign, to hire the Sovereign for a period of one year, beginning August 15, 1996. BargeCarib began using the Sovereign under this charter and later, in July 1997, timely exercised its contractual right, provided for in the charter, to extend the charter for another year. On May 20, 1997, Offshore sold the Sovereign to Global Towing, LLC (Global). Global received a line of credit from First National Bank of Commerce (FNBC) and in return gave FNBC a $ 2,000,000 preferred ship mortgage as security. Global completely satisfied the Sovereign's existing mortgage of record and FNBC duly recorded its preferred mortgage on May 21, 1997. On October 2, 1998, Global's owner Michael Blake executed an $ 800,000 guarantee of Global indebtedness. The Sovereign was renamed the M/V Mr. Dean. Offshore and Global reassured BargeCarib that their time charter would be honored. Ds failed to deliver. BargeCarib filed suit for breach of the charter. The district court held that the date of the breach was July 10, 1997. Global defaulted on the loan and Blake refused to pay under the terms of his guarantee. On March 24, 2000, P (successor by merger to FNBC) filed the present lawsuit against Ds. On June 2, 2000, BargeCarib intervened and asserted a maritime lien based on the breach of the charter. BargeCarib and Pe disputed the priorities of their claims and they filed cross motions for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment to P, determining that P's mortgage had priority over BargeCarib's maritime lien. BargeCarib appealed.