## Facts

- Konica Business Machines, Inc. purchased 44 photocopiers for shipment from Yokohama to Long Beach aboard Sea-Land’s containership, the *Sea-Land Consumer*.
- Sea-Land issued a clean bill of lading and stowed Konica’s container on deck in a multi-tier stacking frame.
- The container was secured with twist-locks; Sea-Land’s manual called for additional locking pins to keep the twist-locks locked.
- The chief mate locked the twist-locks but did not insert locking pins, believing pins were unnecessary based on experience.
- During a North Pacific storm, the twist-locks came unlocked; Konica’s container and others fell overboard and the photocopiers were lost.
- After a bench trial, the district court found a well-established trade custom permitting on-deck stowage of containers under clean bills of lading and limited liability to $1,000 per photocopier, awarding $44,000 total.
- Konica appealed, arguing that on-deck stowage and/or failure to use locking pins was an unreasonable deviation defeating the limitation of liability.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported a finding of a general trade custom permitting on-deck stowage of containers under a clean bill of lading.
2. Whether on-deck stowage and/or negligent failure to use locking pins constituted an unreasonable deviation that voided COGSA and contractual limitations of liability.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment.
- The court held that substantial evidence supported the finding of a well-established trade custom allowing on-deck stowage of containers under clean bills of lading.
- The court held that the failure to use locking pins was, at most, negligent stowage and did not amount to an unreasonable deviation.
- Because there was no unreasonable deviation, the contractual and COGSA-based liability limitation of $1,000 per photocopier was enforceable.

## Legal Principles

- A clean bill of lading’s traditional implication of under-deck stowage may be modified by proof of a well-established trade custom in containerized shipping.
- On-deck stowage consistent with established trade custom is not a deviation from the contract of carriage.
- Unreasonable deviation requires a substantial, unjustified departure from the agreed method of carriage; mere negligence in stowage or handling does not defeat COGSA or contractual limits on liability.
- When no unreasonable deviation is shown, COGSA and bill-of-lading limitations on liability remain enforceable.

## Conclusion

The court upheld a liability cap for lost cargo, concluding that on-deck container stowage under a clean bill was permitted by trade custom and that negligent securing of the container did not rise to an unreasonable deviation that would nullify COGSA and contractual limitations.


Konica Bus. Machs., Inc. v. Vessel Sea-Land Consumer, 153 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 1998)