Reported / Citable
Background
This action arose from a July 19, 2024 collision in the Houston Ship Channel between the M/V Yangze 7 and the M/V Miss Peggy. Houston Fleeting Services LLC, owner of the Miss Peggy, sued the Yangze 7 in rem and several alleged owners or operators, asserting negligence and due-diligence claims and seeking contribution and indemnity.
The collision killed Aquarius Lowman, a seaman aboard the Miss Peggy, and led to claims by his estate representatives and family members. Two Houston Fleeting employees who were aboard the vessel, Richard Ancar and Mark Doyle, also asserted Jones Act negligence, unseaworthiness, and maintenance-and-cure claims. Houston Fleeting and Ladon Shipping each sought limitation of liability and moved for default against persons who had not filed collision-related claims.
The Court’s Holding
Judge Charles Eskridge adopted three memoranda and recommendations from Magistrate Judge Dena Palermo. The court granted Houston Fleeting’s motions to dismiss Ancar’s and Doyle’s Jones Act and general maritime unseaworthiness claims with prejudice, while leaving their claims based on an alleged failure to pay maintenance and cure intact.
The court also dismissed with prejudice, to the extent asserted by Karribian Scott as personal representative of Lowman’s estate, claims for lost future earnings or loss of support. Scott’s objection was moot because the magistrate judge had already granted her leave to amend to seek the available loss-of-support damages, and she had filed an amended complaint. Finally, the court granted the petitioners’ ex parte default motions and permanently barred all non-listed persons from bringing claims against Houston Fleeting or Ladon Shipping arising from the collision.
Key Takeaways
- Ancar’s and Doyle’s Jones Act and unseaworthiness claims were dismissed with prejudice, but their maintenance-and-cure claims remain.
- The estate representative cannot recover lost future earnings or loss of support in the dismissed form of her claim; her amended pleading governs any properly pleaded available damages.
- Only the seven identified claimants may pursue collision-related claims against Houston Fleeting and Ladon Shipping; all others are permanently barred.
Why It Matters
The order narrows the claims remaining from a fatal vessel collision while preserving the maintenance-and-cure disputes of the two injured crew members. It also reinforces the claim-filing cutoff in the parallel limitation proceedings by foreclosing later claims from anyone other than the expressly identified claimants.
For maritime litigants, the decision illustrates that a party’s amendment curing a damages-pleading issue can moot an objection to a dismissal recommendation, even as the court adopts the recommendation as to the original pleading.