United States v. Dae Rim Fishery Company, Ltd., and Britannia Steamship Insurance Association, Ltd., in Personam

The United States filed a complaint for recovery of oil pollution removal costs pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. On summary judgment, the dis trict court held the government’s suit barred for failure to file within the three-year statute of limitations prescribed for government tort claims. We reverse and hold that cost recovery actions under the Act are governed by the six-year statute of limitations for government contract claims, and, alternatively, that the government’s suit was timely filed even for purposes of a three-year statute of limitations.

BACKGROUND

On February 28, 1981 a fire broke out on the Dae Rim, a vessel owned by the respondent Dae Rim Fishery Co., Ltd. (Dae Rim Co.). At the time, the vessel was at sea off Attu Island, Alaska, the westernmost Aleutian Island. Nearby Soviet vessels undertook to assist the crew, but ultimately the ship was abandoned with heavy loss of life. A Soviet vessel towed the Dae Rim, moving her within ten miles of Attu. The United States Navy began surveillance of the vessel the following day and continued through about March 4, 1981, when naval personnel observed that the vessel was aground and leaking oil into the…