An affiliate of Primera Maritime is asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit by d'Amico Dry after the Italian shipowner's requests for proof of ship ownership are denied.
Nikka Finance filed a motion for summary judgment to dismiss a 2009 freight forwarding agreement (FFA) suit since the company is not Primera's "alter ego", court documents state.
Since July, d'Amico Dry filed three "motions to compel" Nikka Finance to furnish ownership papers for the 29,100-dwt Seaglass II (built 2008) to prove double identity.
US Magistrate Judge Bradley Murray on Friday denied the motions on the basis that Nikka said the papers no longer exist, so d'Amico cannot demand documents it does not have.
"The only issue in this case is whether Nikka is the alter ego of Primera ... and thus liable for the $1,766,278.54 English judgment entered in favor of d'Amico and against Primera," Nikka Finance said in its request to jettison the case.
"Despite 10 years of litigation in multiple jurisdictions in the US ... d'Amico cannot meet its burden of proving ... that Nikka is the alter ego of Primera."
In June, d'Amico filed a lawsuit seeking $4.7m in US District Court for Southern Alabama, a decade after filing a suit demanding the $1.8m in US District Court for Southern New York.
The extra $3m consists of $1.3m in post-judgment interest over nine years, almost $726,000 in lawyer fees and attachment of the Seaglass II as security.
D'Amico Dry has until 9 November to appeal the motion.
Neither Thomas Tisdale, d'Amico Dry's New York lawyer, nor John Kavanaugh, Nikka's lawyer in Alabama, immediately returned calls seeking comment.
