Byron Chemaly v. Eddie Lampert

── Byron Chemaly v. Eddie Lampert ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: April 22, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 24-10797 Document: 61-1 Date Filed: 04/22/2026 Page: 1 of 33 FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-10797 ____________________ BYRON CHEMALY, Plaintiff-Appellant Cross-Appellee, versus EDDIE LAMPERT, individually, GRANT GOLD, individually, R. OPERATIONS, LTD, a foreign entity, FOUNTAINHEAD MARINE LIMITED, a foreign entity, CAMPER & NICHOLSONS, a Florida Corporation, et al., Defendants-Appellees Cross-Appellants, XL CATLIN SYNDICATE 2003, USCA11 Case: 24-10797 Document: 61-1 Date Filed: 04/22/2026 Page: 2 of 33 2 Opinion of the Court 24-10797 a foreign insurer registered and authorized to do business in Florida, Defendant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:23-cv-24257-BB ____________________ Before JORDAN, HULL, and MARCUS, Circuit Judges. JORDAN, Circuit Judge: The wood and a brass doorknob that had become a smear of fire gave him a sense of everything around him: the miles of space filled with sun, between the burning spreads of sky and ocean. It was February, and the yacht lay still, her engines idle, in the South- ern Pacific. —Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead 600–01 (1943) This case concerns the arbitrability of claims by a seaman who was injured aboard the M/Y Fountainhead, a 288-foot yacht. The yacht sailed under the flag of the Cayman Islands, and its home port was the Island Gardens Marina on Watson Island in Miami, Florida. I Byron Chemaly worked as a seaman on the M/Y Fountain- head. Captain Grant Gold led the ship’s crew. Fountainhead Ma- rine, Ltd. was the record owner of the yacht. R. Operations, Ltd. USCA11 Case: 24-10797 Document: 61-1 Date Filed: 04/22/2026 Page: 3 of 33 24-10797 Opinion of the Court 3 was, according to the employment agreement, Mr. Chemaly’s em- ployer. Both R. Operations and Fountainhead Marine were formed under the laws of Cayman Islands. Mr. Chemaly alleges that these two entities are artifices designed to avoid domestic taxes and lia- bility. They generated no income, and Eddie Lampert paid all their operating expenses. As such, Mr. Chemaly alleges that Mr. Lam- pert was the beneficial owner of the M/Y Fountainhead and the real party in interest to the yacht. Camper & Nicholsons served as the manager of the yacht; it ensured that the yacht was adequately manned and equipped dur- ing its voyages. Finally, XL Catlin Syndicate 2003M was the under- writer and insured the risks associated with the ownership and op- eration of the M/Y Fountainhead.