Otis Felder (Partner-San Francisco) convinced the San Joaquin Superior Court in Stockton, California, to grant a motion in limine stating the effect of which “guts the case of its damages demand.” In this state court case, the plaintiff alleged that his recreational speed boat was negligently repaired by our client boat repair shop, demanding he was entitled to $1,500 per diem for 1,090 days of loss of use, amounting to $1,635,000. In response, the repair shop moved to exclude the damages based on a U.S. Supreme Court case, The Conqueror, 166 U.S. 110 (1897), which held that owners of recreational vessels intended for and used strictly for pleasure have no pecuniary loss arising from delay in repairs. The Stockton court pointed out that the plaintiff’s boat was registered for recreational use only and that the plaintiff had never rented or chartered another during the repairs. The court agreed that general maritime law, not California state law, controlled and that the Supreme Court’s decision applied. In The Conqueror, Frederick Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, had sued to recover possession of his steam yacht that he alleged was illegally detained for failing to pay customs fees when he brought it to the United States from England. The U.S. Supreme Court held Vanderbilt’s claim for loss of use failed because he had no evidence of loss of profits and that the vessel was intended and was used only for personal pleasure. The state court noted that to the extent California law would allow loss of use damages, it would interfere with established federal maritime law and thus was preempted. It found that the plaintiff was precisely in the same position as Vanderbilt in 1897, as both boats were owned and used for personal pleasure only and not intended nor used commercially. Accordingly, it granted that no claims or references could be made at trial to loss of enjoyment or use of the recreational boat.