The line between maritime and non-maritime jurisdiction
continues to be redrawn. A recent case out of the Southern District
of New York, Fireman's Fund v Great American Insurance Company,
2013 U.S. Dist. 11114, held a dry dock that sank at its berth in
Texas not to be a vessel. Unless plaintiffs could establish an
alternative jurisdictional basis such as Diversity of Citizenship,
the court ruled it lacked jurisdiction to decide the underlying
insurance dispute.
Federal law, specifically 1 U.S.C. § 3, defines a vessel to
include every description of watercraft or other artificial
contrivance used or capable of being used as a means of
transportation on water. The court in Fireman's
Fund reasoned that if the dry dock could be used as a
means of transportation, as set forth in § 3, it would be
considered a vessel and admiralty jurisdiction would exist.
