37 results for 'cat:"Maritime" AND cat:"Negligence"'.
J. Ashe grants a request by the owner of an offshore supply boat to dismiss a purported expert for the vessel’s captain in his maritime personal injury case. While nobody challenges his qualifications as a mechanical engineer, both his report and deposition demonstrate his lack of expertise in naval architecture, marine engineering and vessel operations. He cannot offer expert opinions regarding the cause or effect of vessel “slamming” during offshore cargo operations that allegedly injured the captain.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Ashe, Filed On: May 6, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1712, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: maritime, negligence, Experts
J. Higginson finds the district court properly found the owner of the unpowered drillship to be liable for the ship's moorage breakaway during Hurrican Harvey. Maritime negligence law, rather than a "towage law," was appropriately applied in the court's holding the force majeure contract defense was not available to the ship owner in relation to the tugboat owner hired to tend to the ship during the storm. The tugboat owner also had expressly refused to agree to the terms of the agreement for provision of services. Because the tugboat owner had supplied another vessel to monitor the ship after the breakaway, and that tug failed to stop the vessel’s allision with a University of Texas pier, the court correctly found both owners were equally liable for damages suffered by the school. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Higginson , Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 23-40209, Categories: maritime, Damages, negligence
J. Stewart finds the trial court properly granted summary judgment to the subsea oil drilling engineering and exploration firm. The employee says he sustained injuries to his shoulder and neck while servicing a remotely operated vehicle onboard a drillship during a Chevron contract. He brings claims under theories of negligence and unseaworthiness. The trial court correctly held the employee is not a seaman as defined by his Jones Act claim, and he did not establish a genuine dispute of material fact as to negligence and unseaworthiness. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Stewart , Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 23-20095, Categories: maritime, Tort, negligence
[Consolidated.] J. Theriot finds that the lower court properly granted partial summary judgment in favor of the boat seller in litigation brought on behalf of the decedent's surviving children stemming from his death on a vessel that capsized. Because the surviving children "judicially confessed" that the decedent was a seaman or longshoreman, their claims fall under federal maritime law. So the claims for wrongful death, survival damages and nonpecuniary damages were correctly dismissed. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Theriot, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 2023CA0839, Categories: Evidence, maritime, negligence
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J. Duncan finds the district court improperly confirmed the London arbitration panel's award granting a shipping vessel owner $200 million after chemical tanks loaded at the Port of New Orleans exploded while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The district court lacks personal jurisdiction over the shipping company that chartered the vessel because the company did not waive its personal jurisdiction defense by entering into a letter of undertaking issued by its insurer to the owner. Also, contact with the forum did not arise from the company's deliberate activities, but from unilateral activities of others. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Duncan , Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 22-30808, Categories: maritime, negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Africk denies a request by the owner of a dredging vessel to exclude the testimony of a marine safety expert for a catering employee who alleges the owner’s negligence resulted in his disabling fall when he attempted to disembark from the dredge. The vessel’s owner relies on a case in another section of the court that held the expert could not testify because “no expertise of any kind” was required to render his opinion or to help the jury in that case. In the current suit, however, the same expert’s specialized knowledge and experience of maritime safety standards will help shed light on the issue of safe means of access to and from vessels.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Africk, Filed On: January 19, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1602, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: Jury, maritime, negligence
J. Southwick finds the district court improperly held the contract to inspect and repair lifeboats on oil platforms is not a maritime contract. After two workers were killed in a lifeboat accident, the district court decided that since the vessel itself was not engaged in maritime commerce the contract is not a maritime contract, which effects whether indemnity might be owed. Though the platform itself may or may not be considered a vessel, depending on if its legs are attached to the sea floor, the lifeboats themselves are not required to be engaged in maritime commerce. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Southwick , Filed On: January 11, 2024, Case #: 22-30582, Categories: Insurance, maritime, negligence
J. Fallon finds a South Louisiana shipyard has successfully invoked an Act of God defense and, therefore, is not liable for damages to one of 19 vessels moored at its docking facilities when Hurricane Ida struck in 2021. The shipyard did all it reasonably could to prevent an un-manned vessel from breaking free and slamming into a docked workboat, during the strongest storm to hit the area since the “Last Island Hurricane” of 1856. A litigant invoking the Act of God defense must show “that the accident could not have been prevented by ‘human skill and precaution and a proper display of nautical skills[.]’”
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv3046, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: maritime, Damages, negligence
J. Bloom grants plaintiff's motion to strike a cruise company's affirmative defenses in negligence claims brought after plaintiff's minor child was raped onboard the ship by striking defenses contending the company was not responsible for its employee's intentional actions.
Court: USDC Southern District of Florida, Judge: Bloom, Filed On: November 22, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv22348, NOS: Assault, Libel, & Slander - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: Employment, maritime, negligence
J. Baker rules in favor of the time charterer and the ship management company in a maritime action brought by the longshoreman arising from injuries he suffered in a fall when a gangway railing on a shipping vessel collapsed. There is no contractual provision under the agreements that would attribute liability to either the time charterer or the ship management company. The companies' motion for partial summary judgment is also granted as to the longshoreman's claim for loss of future earnings. However, the companies' renewed joint motion for summary judgment is denied. The longshoreman provided sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issues of fact as to whether the vessel negligently caused the gangway's handrail to collapse, whether the gangway was under active control of the vessel and whether the vessel had constructive knowledge of the hazard that led to the longshoreman's injuries.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Baker, Filed On: October 6, 2023, Case #: 4:20cv91, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: maritime, negligence
J. Fallon denies summary judgment to a river transportation company on its argument that Hurricane Ida was an Act of God and, therefore, it should not be found liable for negligently monitoring and securing its fleet of barges because no amount of precaution would have prevented a series of damaging, storm-related “breakaways.” Deciding the Act of God defense’s applicability raises questions surrounding the conditions decision makers faced, which conditions were known by whom and when, whether decision makers acted reasonably given these circumstances, and more. In short, there are too many questions of material fact to warrant summary judgment.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Fallon, Filed On: September 20, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv504, NOS: Other Personal Property Damage - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: maritime, Damages, negligence
J. Wood partially grants the motion to dismiss by the ship owner, charterer, operator and agent as to the local companies' claims seeking natural resource damages and subsistence use damages under the Oil Pollution Act in a negligence, trespass and public nuisance action arising after a shipping vessel capsized in the St. Simons Sound. Eight of the company parties did not present claims for property damages under the Act, therefore the motion to dismiss is also granted as to those claims. The Act also displaces the companies' federal maritime negligence claim against the ship parties and the agent. However, the motion to dismiss is denied with regard to property damages claims asserted by nine of the company parties.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv86, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, maritime, negligence
J. Wood grants the motion to dismiss by the ship owner, charterer, operator and agent as to the shrimping and crabbing companies' claims for natural resources damages and subsistence use damages under the Oil Pollution Act in a negligence action arising after a shipping vessel capsized in the St. Simons Sound. The companies' federal maritime negligence claims against the ship parties and the agent are displaced by the Act, therefore the motion to dismiss is also granted as to those claims. However, the ship parties' motion to dismiss is denied as to the companies' claim for property damages under the Act. The agent's motion to dismiss is denied as to the companies' state law claims for negligence, public nuisance and trespass.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv85, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Environment, maritime, negligence
J. Barbier finds in partial favor of a marine towing company and on a seaman's claims that he suffered physical injuries while attempting to help a “green” deckhand who fell off a barge and into the water. There is no question that the seaman’s previously concealed injuries to his lower back, neck and left shoulder affect the exact same body parts as the injury at issue. However, the employer fails to prove the seaman’s request for benefits and treatment for his alleged psychological injuries were linked to any prior injuries.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Barbier, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1209, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: maritime, negligence, Emotional Distress
J. Humetawa denies a boat operator's motion for complete exoneration concerning liability claims stemming from a boat crash that killed three people. The boat operator failed to sufficiently show that he was not responsible for colliding into another maritime vessel after overtaking it at close range.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Humetawa, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv730, NOS: Marine - Contract, Categories: maritime, negligence
J. Males finds a lower court properly dismissed a maritime shipping company's motion to limit its liabilities concerning a crash that damaged a series of tank containers. The maritime shipping company argued that it is entitled to limit its liability for damages that occurred to the cargo ship's vessel following an explosion. However, the cargo ship operator presented sufficient evidence in court that the maritime shipping company is on the hook for damages to the vessel as well as the cargo, which was contaminated and destroyed during the incident. Affirmed.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Males, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: CA-2022-2293, Categories: maritime, Damages, negligence
J. Borman denies a steamship steward assistant's motion to exclude an expert in claims contending he fell from a flight of stairs while carrying sundries because the expert, who had held a Coast Guard officer's license for 40 years, was qualified to opine on ship safety practices.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Michigan, Judge: Borman, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv10650, NOS: Marine - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: maritime, negligence, Experts
J. Russell denies in part a boat captain’s motion for summary judgment in a suit alleging negligence against him brought by family members of two men who died while deep sea fishing. The captain did not advise three passengers to wear life vests, one of whom had not fished with him before. A rogue wave hit the boat and a second wave capsized it. One passenger jumped into the water before it flipped and survived, while the captain swam out from underneath it after. However, the other two men drowned. The captain argues that because the men were trapped under the boat, whether they wore life vests or not is irrelevant. However, a reasonable person could assume that the men may have survived had the captain required them to wear life vests.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Russell, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 1:16cv2695, NOS: Marine - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: maritime, negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Halpern finds in favor of the fire district against the volunteer firefighter's negligence claim that the fire district is liable for his alleged injury onboard its firefighting vessel, Marine I, while responding to a boat fire on the Hudson River. The fire district is not liable via negligence for the volunteer firefighter's losses arising from the incident, because only 3.8% of his total activities with the fire district involved the Marine I and he was not authorized to operate the Marine I to respond to calls on the Hudson River.
Court: USDC Southern District of New York, Judge: Halpern, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 7:21cv2954, NOS: Marine - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: maritime, negligence
J. Branch finds that the district court properly ruled in favor of Royal Caribbean in a maritime negligence action brought by a passenger arising from injuries she suffered during a muster drill on a cruise ship. The passenger claimed a cruise line employee rushed her down stairs and caused her to fall. The district court correctly found that the passenger failed to provide sufficient evidence to create a dispute of fact as to medical causation. The passenger's testimony related to her neck injury is not medical expert testimony and her doctor's letter was not specific enough to link the passenger's disc disease to her fall. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Branch, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: 22-11569, Categories: maritime, negligence
J. Maze denies the Tennessee Valley Authority's motion to dismiss three cases arising from a fire at a dock that resulted in deaths, injuries and property losses. A 1963 indenture agreement, which conveyed certain property from the TVA to the county, is an indemnification agreement, rather than a release.
Court: USDC Northern District of Alabama , Judge: Maze, Filed On: July 28, 2023, Case #: 5:22cv15, NOS: Marine - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: maritime, negligence, Wrongful Death
J. Douglass finds the district court properly granted summary judgment to the vessel owner in this claim brought by the longshoreman who was injured by slipping on grain dust on the deck of the vessel, alleging the owner’s failure to pay maintenance and cure, unseaworthiness and vessel negligence. The longshoreman was not a full-time employee but was assigned strictly to perform “discrete tasks” on vessels mid-stream in the Mississippi river, after which his connection to the vessels ended. Though the longshoreman has collected workers compensation benefits, he has not put forth evidence proving his seaman status or vessel negligence. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Douglass, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 22-30488, Categories: maritime, negligence, Workers' Compensation