CHARTER AGREEMENTS AND NON-PERFORMANCE

We've come across a couple of party charter boat non-performance issues recently. Most of them have to do with mechanical break-downs during or before the charter. For "Term Charters" or vacation or overnight charters, most contracts adhere to the Standard Caribbean (CYBA), Mediterranean (MYBA) or Demise agreement formats which are pretty clear. Not nearly so clear are the Party Boat agreements that are in most cases proprietary to the boats themselves or to the locations where they are based. We had a case the other day of a party boat that broke down before the charter and the parties agreed to do their charter "dockside" so the boat didn't actually go out on charter, however a good time was had by all with the boat tied up at the dock. Obviously the charter boat did not meet the expectation of the charterer who hired the boat to spend a nice evening on Biscayne Bay; nevertheless, the party went on and the guests had a good time and consumed the food and the beverages while tied up. The question arises as to what, if any, compensation is due to the charterer? Given the wide range of interpretations of each charter contract, this becomes almost a issue to be resolved by the parties themselves or a mediator. In our view some compensation is in line. Not a complete refund but, arguably, some monies need to be refunded. We would appreciate any feedback from clients, brokers and the boats themselves. Thank you.