Admiralty and Maritime

Subscribe to Admiralty and Maritime via RSS

Historically, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued Incidents of Non-Compliance (INC’s) to oil and gas lease holders on the Outer Continental Shelf for a variety of accidents, spills, and other incidents offshore. However, as a result of the events that led to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent investigation,…

In November 2016, the Eastern District of Louisiana again confronted the “marshland” involved in categorizing a contract as maritime or non-maritime. In In re: Crescent Energy Services, LLC, No. 15-819 (E.D. La. Nov. 7, 2016), the court held that a contract to plug and abandon a well in Louisiana waters was maritime in nature.…

On November 18, 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued a final rule “revising and updating its general industry standards on walking-working surfaces to prevent and reduce workplace slips, trips, and falls, as well as other injuries and fatalities associated with walking-working surface hazards.” 81 Fed. Reg. 82494 (Nov. 18, 2016) .  Regulations…

Nearly everyone who has practiced civil litigation long enough has experienced a case so meritless that allegations of frivolity and the need for sanctions are thrown around. Despite these feelings, the typical result is a simple dismissal of the case and the defendant footing the bill. Rarely are sanctions ever actually awarded against the frivolous…

Multimillion dollar offshore drilling rigs and subsea drilling equipment can be rendered worthless if their most basic components, the nuts and bolts that hold them together, fail. Since 2013, investigators with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (“BSEE”) have been investigating why bolts used in subsea oil equipment have suddenly, and without warning, failed.…

On August 10, 2016, the Eastern District of Louisiana reaffirmed that a maritime lien may attach to a vessel at the moment the necessaries are provided, but that the lien may not yet be enforceable until payment is due (i.e., the debt had matured). Thus, in the typical case, the amount of security necessary…

Given the significantly better benefits available to an injured worker who qualifies under the Longshoreman and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”) compared to a state workers’ compensation scheme, attorneys for injured workers are constantly trying to fit their client into the LHWCA to maximize their potential recovery. As a result, there is a steady availability…