Asphalt International, Inc. v. Enterprise Shipping Corp.

OPINION

SAND, District Judge.

The principal issue presented by this admiralty proceeding which has been tried to the Court, is whether the owner of a vessel on charter which was damaged in a collision may treat the vessel as a total wreck and be excused from further liability under the charter, either under the terms of the charter party or under the doctrine of impracticability of performance, where the reasonably estimated cost of repair exceeds the fair market value of the vessel prior to the collision but is less than the hull insurance proceeds received by the owner.

Unlike land based forms…