Contract analysis

I. LEGAL STANDARD FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT A motion for summary judgment pursuant to CPLR § 3212 "shall be granted if, upon all the papers and proof submitted, the cause of action or defense shall be established sufficiently to warrant the court as a matter of law in directing judgment in favor of any party." CPLR § 3212(b). The movant bears the initial burden of making a prima facie showing of entitlement to judgment as

II. THE LIQUIDATED DAMAGES CAP UNDER CLAUSE 28 APPLIES ONCE TO THE ENTIRE CHARTER PERIOD Northwind's attempt to triple its liquidated damages recovery by applying the Clause 28 cap separately to each of the three alleged mechanical incidents is contrary to the plain language of the charter-party, the undisputed commercial context, and settled New York law governing both contract interpretation and liquidated damages

Clause 28 of the Charter-Party provides, in pertinent part: "In the event of Owner's material breach of its obligations under Clauses 2 and 6 of this Charter-Party, resulting in the vessel being placed off-hire, Charterer shall be entitled to liquidated damages equal to one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the aggregate number of off-hire days multiplied by the daily hire rate, subject to a cap of $4,500,000 for any s

III. NORTHWIND'S DEVIATION CLAIM FAILS AS A MATTER OF LAW Northwind's claim that TSL breached the Charter-Party by directing the M/V Aegean Fortuna to deviate from the Durban-to-Qingdao voyage to call at Maputo, Mozambique in September 2022 is belied by the undisputed record evidence and fails as a matter of law. The record establishes that the Maputo call was a reasonable deviation within the Master's discretion, ju