Thoughts from 2013: For the layman, most floating structures have generally been considered to have been vessels and as such, were subject to the Law of Admiralty. However, this does not always hold and whether admiralty law applies to all floating structures is not the rare matter one might assume. In January 2013, the United States Supreme Court, in Lozman v. Riviera Beach, 568 U.S. (2013), clarified the terms of the Rules of Construction Act, 1 U.S.C. § 3, which defines a “vessel” as including “every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.
Lozman concerned a dispute regarding whether a federal district court had jurisdiction under admiralty law to hear a case between the owner of a “floating house” and a municipality. The City of Riviera Beach, Florida, contended that a floating home was a vessel and as such, admiralty law, and the district court’s jurisdiction applied. In a 7-2 decision, the Court ruled that not every floating structure is subject to the law of admiralty, reasoning that the Rules of Construction Act’s definition of a vessel must be applied in a practical manner. In other words, the interpretation must be termed in regards to whether a reasonable observer would see the structure and its activities as being designed for carrying things or people over water.
In Lozman, a floating houseboat with no steering mechanism, an unraked hull, a shallow rectangular bottom, with no capacity to generate or store electricity and, most importantly, no ability for self-propulsion, did not. In its decision, the Court distinguished between its rulings in Stewart v. Dutra Constr. Co., 543 U.S. 481 (2005) in which it ruled a dredge to be a vessel and its decision in Evansville & Bowling Green Packing Co. v. Chero Cola Bottling Co., 271 U.S. 19 (1926) in which a wharfboat was not.
Clearly, this decision may reignite the fertile brains of litigators. For instance, does this change the Court’s view of offshore drilling rigs and if so, how? Do they qualify as vessels and if so, are there any types of offshore drilling structures that could be considered exempt from the “vessel” definition?