In Re Complaint of Holly Marine Towing, Inc., Owner of the Barge Hmt 7, for Exoneration From or Limitation of Liability

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

The Limitation of Shipowners’ Liability Act, 46 U.S.C. §§ 183-189, limits, with irrelevant exceptions, the liability of a shipowner sued in tort to his investment in the ship and its freight, and establishes a procedure for obtaining and enforcing the limitation. 46 U.S.C. §§ 183(a), 185. This limitation of liability, the purpose of which is to subsidize the U.S. merchant marine, Grant Gilmore & Charles L. Black, Jr., The Law of Admiralty, § 10-2, pp. 818-19 (1975), is not to be confused with the more common limited liability of corporate shareholders, which would…