In Re The Complaint Of Metlife Capital Corp.

132 F.3d 818 (1st Cir. 1997)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The towing wire between the tug M/V EMILY S and the barge MORRIS J. BERMAN parted, grounding the barge. The grounding caused much of the cargo of fuel oil to spill into the waters of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Commonwealth filed a damages action under the OPA, general federal maritime law, and Puerto Rico law. Several other civil actions were filed by private parties seeking recovery under a variety of theories for damages. Each of these actions was either consolidated with the Commonwealth's action or dismissed. Within six months of the oil spill, NEMS, BGI, and BGPR (Bunker Group) filed a complaint under the Limitation Act and Rule F, seeking exoneration from or limitation of liability. MetLife (P), as owner of the EMILY S, filed a separate action under the Limitation Act. The district court issued a notice to claimants of the limitation actions and an order of injunction, or monition, enjoining the commencement of any actions against the limitation plaintiffs for claims arising out of the grounding of the barge except for actions filed in the limitation proceeding. The monition created a concursus of all claims in a single consolidated proceeding. Ps provided notice to actual claimants as well as to potential claimants in a Notice of Monition. At the conclusion of the monition period, Ps filed motions for entry of default against all persons who failed to file. Numerous claimants, including the Commonwealth and the United States (Government), filed actions in the limitation proceedings, seeking recovery of damages under the OPA, general maritime law, and other law. In their claims, both the Commonwealth and the Government asserted that their OPA claims should not be subject to concursus. The Hilton claimants filed claims under seal in the limitation proceedings while their administrative claims, which had already been filed with the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC), were pending. The Hilton claimants moved the district court for relief in order to preserve their OPA claims if they withdrew them from the concursus. The district court issued an order suspending the August 25, 1994 order of injunction issued in the limitation proceedings. This order allowed all claims to be asserted independently of the limitation of liability proceedings. Ps appealed.