A pair of recent decisions from the US Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals signals a trend by the judiciary to closely scrutinize agency rulings where, in the past, courts have traditionally maintained a laissez-faire approach.
In Ohio v. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled that an agency action qualifies as arbitrary
By the Admiralty and Maritime Team
In Voces v. Energy Resource Technology, GOM, LLC, et al. the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reviewed the longstanding general rule in Louisiana known as the independent contractor defense, which provides that a principal is not liable for the negligent acts of an independent
At the very end of 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated two Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) citations against an employer that allegedly failed to timely resolve open findings and recommendations from Process Hazard Analysis (PHA). The 2008 citation related to multiple PHAs that occurred over a decade (with the last being
When two parties agree to arbitrate, the obvious hope of the prevailing party is that the losing party will voluntarily comply with the arbitrator’s decision. This article is directed towards the situation in which the losing party refuses to so comply, and the prevailing party must petition the appropriate court system to “enforce” the arbitrator’s
In its most recent decision regarding Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) coverage, namely New Orleans Depot Services, Inc. v. Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, 718 F.3d 384 (5th Cir. 2013) (en banc), the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals defined “adjoining” as used in the LHWCA to mean “bordering on