14 results for 'cat:"Admiralty" AND cat:"Negligence"'.
J. Wilson finds the district court properly dismissed a deckhand's injury action. A towing company was improperly joined as a party and, therefore, the district court properly disregarded disregarded and dismissed it, which left no defendants. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Wilson , Filed On: January 8, 2024, Case #: 23-30112, Categories: admiralty, Tort, negligence
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J. Jones finds the trial court properly found in favor of the inland tugboat captain in a negligence action. The tugboat, navigating along the middle of the Mississippi river, collided with an ocean-going ship that diverted from its position due to the effect of the river's current as its crew raised anchor. The tugboat maintained a course necessary to avoid another vessel travelling upstream, and the captain made all necessary radio and signal warnings. However, the trial court instructed the jury to apply the incorrect standard of proof for the claim against the at-fault ship captain. Affirmed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Jones , Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 22-30261, Categories: admiralty, Damages, negligence
J. Fletcher finds that the district court properly entered judgment after a bench trial in an admiralty action brought by a towboat company against a company that hired it to tow a drydock, which was damaged in a storm, from Seattle to Ensenada. The tug towed the drydock into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, where it capsized and sank. The district court correctly granted partial summary judgment to the hiring company on the ground that the towboat was negligent as a matter of law in allowing the drydock to sink in the Sanctuary. However, the Ninth Circuit vacates the district court’s award of prejudgment interest on the $40,000 award against the towboat company. Interest should run from the date of the hiring company's expenditures, rather than the date the drydock sank. Affirmed in part.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: 22-35195, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: 22-35195, Categories: admiralty, Property, negligence
J. Kness grants a motion from the defendant estate administrator of a drowned woman to dismiss the plaintiff ship owner's claim of limited liability for the drowned passenger. The woman drowned after falling off the ship owner's vessel on Lake Michigan, and the ship owner claims he has no liability for the death under the Limitation of Shipowner’s Liability Act. The court, however, agrees with the estate administrator that the Act does not apply in this case and dismisses the ship owner's claim.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Kness, Filed On: September 25, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv5954, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: admiralty, negligence, Jurisdiction
[Consolidated.] J. Carney finds that the district court improperly found a chemical manufacturer and a shipper wholly responsible for cargo losses after an explosion and fire damaged a vessel carrying divinylbenzene, or DVB-80, from the U.S. to Belgium. Those parties were liable to the ship's owner and operator for damages under a failure-to-warn theory, but they should not have been held solely liable under sea carriage rules since the operator, which previously dealt with DVB, was aware of its "general dangerousness." Reversed in part.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Carney, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 18-2974(L), Categories: admiralty, Damages, negligence
J. Kelly finds a lower court properly dismissed the government's "seaman's manslaughter" claims against a tourism duck boat. The government argued that the operators of the duck boat were grossly negligent when they failed to prevent the vessel from sinking, which resulted in the death of 17 people. However, the duck boat operators sufficiently showed that the lower court's admiralty jurisdiction does not extend to the lake because it is not navigable as a matter of law. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Kelly, Filed On: May 30, 2023, Case #: 20-3671, Categories: admiralty, negligence, Wrongful Death