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Phillips v. Sea Tow/Sea Spill of Savannah3/24/2003
After voluntarily rescuing a vessel that was in peril on the high seas, Sea Tow/Sea Spill of Savannah, a marine towing service, filed an action in state court against the boat's owner seeking a marine salvage award. The trial court dismissed the complaint, finding that Sea Tow's claim could only be brought in federal admiralty court. The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed, and we granted certiorari to consider whether Sea Tow could pursue a claim for marine salvage in state court. Because we find marine salvage is a remedy that is within the federal admiralty courts' exclusive subject matter jurisdiction, we reverse the court of appeals's contrary holding. However, we affirm the judgment because we conclude that Sea Tow's complaint states a claim for quantum meruit, which is cognizable in state court.
According to the allegations in the complaint, in late May 1998, Robert Phillips abandoned his twenty-five foot sport fisherman boat, the Oosi Marine, after it capsized in the Atlantic Ocean, several miles off of the coast of Georgia. A few days later, Sea Tow located and rescued the vessel. Phillips knew that Sea Tow was searching for his vessel. Sea Tow subsequently sued Phillips for $15,000 based on its salvage services. The trial court dismissed the action, holding that Sea Tow's claim was for "pure salvage which may only be prosecuted by an in rem action before a federal court sitting in admiralty." In reversing, the court of appeals held that Sea Tow's claim was "essentially a common law claim for quantum meruit for services rendered" and could be brought in state court.
MARINE SALVAGE REMEDY
"The law of marine salvage is of ancient vintage[,]" whose origins "can be traced to the sea laws of Byzantium and the Mediterranean seaport cities." It has three elements: (1) a marine peril that places the vessel in danger; (2) the salvor must provide service voluntarily and not because of an existing duty or special contract; and (3) the salvage effort must be successful or the service rendered must contribute to the success. An award for salvage does more than compensate the salvor for the cost of its services; it includes a bounty that rewards "for perilous services voluntarily rendered, and [serves] as an inducement to mariners to embark in such dangerous enterprises to save life and property."
FEDERAL ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION
The United States Constitution vests the "judicial Power of the United States" in the federal courts and extends that power "to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction." Federal admiralty jurisdiction, however, has never been exclusive. The Judiciary Act of 1789 provided that the federal district courts had exclusive jurisdiction "of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction . . . saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it." The emphasized language is referred to as the "savings to suitors" clause and appears today in modified form at 28 U.S.C. ยง 1333(1): "saving to suitors in all cases all other remedies to which they are otherwise entitled."
Although Congress has revised the text of the clause over the years, the United States Supreme Court has said that the clause's "substance has remained largely unchanged." The clause likely was inserted to ensure that the state courts' "concurrent power [remained] where it stood at common law."
SALVAGE CLAIMS IN STATE COURT
Both parties agree that the federal courts have exclusive admiralty jurisdiction of in rem salvage claims (i.e. claims against the salvaged vessel as the defendant). Sea Tow contends, however, that state courts have concurrent jur
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