## Facts

- Anvil Knitwear, Inc. (Anvil) contracted with Crowley American Transport, Inc. (Crowley) to ship containers of shirts from Central America to destinations in the United States.
- The shipment moved under Crowley’s bill of lading.
- The bill of lading incorporated the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), 46 U.S.C. § 1300 et seq.
- The bill of lading contained an “exceptions” section listing causes of loss for which Crowley would not be liable, including losses caused by “thieves, hijackings, and armed robberies.”
- During the inland trucking portion of the movement, the truck carrying the shirts was hijacked and the shirts were stolen.
- The parties agreed that the truck driver—Crowley’s agent for the inland carriage—was not involved in the theft.
- Anvil sued Crowley in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking damages for the lost shirts.
- Crowley moved for summary judgment, relying on the bill-of-lading exceptions and COGSA defenses.

## Issues

1. Whether Crowley could avoid liability for the stolen shirts where the bill of lading incorporated COGSA and expressly excepted losses caused by “thieves, hijackings, and armed robberies.”
2. Whether, given the agreed fact that Crowley’s trucking agent was not involved in the theft, Crowley was entitled to summary judgment because the loss resulted from an excepted cause and not from Crowley’s or its agents’ fault.

## Decision

- The court granted Crowley’s motion for summary judgment.
- The court held Crowley was not liable to Anvil for the shirts stolen in the truck hijacking.
- The court enforced the bill-of-lading exception for losses caused by thieves/hijacking/armed robbery and treated the hijacking as a loss within the contractually excepted risks in a COGSA-governed carriage.
- With no evidence that Crowley or its agent participated in or caused the theft, Anvil could not avoid the contractual/COGSA-based defense.

## Legal Principles

- In a COGSA cargo-loss case, the cargo claimant generally bears the initial burden to show delivery to the carrier in good order and failure to deliver (or delivery in damaged condition), after which the carrier must come forward with a statutory defense or other basis to avoid liability.
- COGSA permits carriers to rely on enumerated defenses in 46 U.S.C. § 1304(2) when the carrier shows the loss resulted from an excepted cause and was not the result of the carrier’s fault or the fault of its agents or servants.
- A bill of lading that incorporates COGSA may include a specific exceptions clause allocating identified risks; an exception for loss caused by thieves/hijacking/armed robbery can be enforced where the loss is attributable to third-party criminals rather than carrier misconduct.
- Even where an exceptions clause applies, a carrier is not relieved from liability for its own negligence (or the negligence of its agents); absence of carrier or agent involvement in the theft supports application of the exception on summary judgment.

## Conclusion

The court entered summary judgment for Crowley because the shirts were stolen in a truck hijacking that fell within the bill of lading’s express exception for losses caused by “thieves, hijackings, and armed robberies,” and the undisputed record showed no involvement by Crowley or its trucking agent in the theft, leaving no basis to impose COGSA-based carrier liability.


Anvil Knitwear v. Crowley American Transport, Inc., 2001 AMC 2382, 2001 WL 856607 (2001)