## Facts

- Mark Broadley, a seasonal customer, moored his vessel at Mashpee Neck Marina on Cape Cod.
- While on the docks, Broadley’s foot became caught in a gap between the main dock and a floating dock.
- The gap was about two to three inches in calm water but could widen when wakes caused the docks to move.
- Broadley fractured his ankle and alleged permanent loss of function.
- Broadley alleged the Marina negligently failed to mitigate a known dock-gap hazard (e.g., by covering the gap with flexible material or securing the docks more tightly).
- The seasonal mooring contract included a boilerplate exculpatory clause stating the owner would not make claims against the Marina arising out of any damage, loss, personal injury, or death, and included indemnity and attorneys’ fees provisions.
- The contract concerned mooring a vessel and was governed by federal admiralty law.
- Broadley conceded his allegations did not amount to gross negligence.

## Issues

1. Whether federal admiralty law permits a marina to contract for exculpation from liability for ordinary negligence when bargaining power is relatively equal.
2. Whether an exculpatory clause that is facially broad enough to cover gross negligence or intentional misconduct, and that does not expressly mention “negligence,” may be enforced through judicial reformation or severance to cover only ordinary negligence.

## Decision

- The First Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment for the Marina and remanded.
- The court rejected a categorical rule that admiralty law forbids waivers of liability for ordinary negligence between parties of roughly equal bargaining power.
- The court held the specific clause was unenforceable as written.
- The court held the district court should not have rewritten the clause to limit it to ordinary negligence.

## Legal Principles

- Under federal admiralty law, agreements waiving claims for ordinary negligence are generally enforceable when the parties have relatively equal bargaining power and no special policy concerns are present.
- Exculpatory provisions seeking to relieve a party from its own negligence are strictly construed and must be expressed with clear specificity.
- A boilerplate exculpatory clause that is overbroad on its face (purporting to bar claims beyond ordinary negligence) and lacks an express reference to negligence may be unenforceable in full.
- Courts should not reform or “blue pencil” an overbroad, non-bargained-for exculpatory clause to preserve partial enforceability, because doing so reduces incentives to draft clear, limited waivers.

## Conclusion

The First Circuit held that although admiralty law may permit contractual waivers of ordinary-negligence claims in marine-service relationships, the Marina’s expansive, boilerplate release—omitting any explicit reference to negligence and broad enough to cover more serious misconduct—could not be enforced or judicially rewritten to bar Broadley’s negligence action.


Broadley v. Mashpee Neck Marina, Inc., 471 F.3d 272 (1st Cir. 2006)