Tug Boat Operator Sued By Travelers Insurance In Subrogation Claim On Sunken Barge

The Port Allen was taking on so much water during a storm last summer that the captain and crew of the Foxy 3 tugboat released the hopper barge off Port Chester Harbor and allowed it to sink into Long Island Sound. Travelers Property Casualty Co. paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims for the loss of the vessel and cargo and for salvaging the wreck. Now it wants the tug operator, Fox Marine Corp. of Easton, Pennsylvania, to pay for those claims. Travelers sued Fox for negligence last month in Westchester Supreme Court, and on Aug. 7, Fox had the case removed to federal court in White Plains, New York.