Superstorm Sandy is now flooding the courts. Lawsuits have been filed across the tri-state area by parties looking to recover for storm-related destruction to their property. Many lawsuits are by vessel owners—or against vessel owners, marinas and yacht clubs. The suits seek damages arising from the unprecedented storm surge that swept thousands of boats from their berths and from storage ashore.
The first known reported decision in New York concerning Superstorm Sandy is not a marine case (despite the proximity of the loss to navigable waters). But the analysis applied by Judge Philip S. Straniere in Pietrangelo v. S&E Customize It Auto is relevant and informative. The complaint was filed in Richmond County Civil Court by the owner of a motor vehicle damaged by rising flood waters while stored inside a repair shop adjacent to the Kill Van Kull waterway on Staten Island.1 The decision is unusually comprehensive for a small claims dispute and see-worthy for its broader implications. Straniere even engaged in self-described "intellectual speculation" as to whether human activities could have contributed to changes in the atmosphere (i.e., global warming) "leading to altered patterns of more extreme weather" that made 'Sandy' into a 'superstorm.'2
Bailment Meets Nature
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