Some states, such as Louisiana, have restrictive statutes against contracting for defense and indemnity provisions. Under federal maritime law, however, these defense and indemnity provisions may be permitted. This distinction creates frequent tension in offshore injury lawsuits between the application of the bordering state law (which may prohibit defense and indemnity provisions) and the application
In February of 2020, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company wrote to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) requesting guidance on whether the Jones Act would work to protect their interests with regard to ongoing offshore wind construction efforts being undertaken off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Specifically, they wanted to know whether the
Contractual indemnities are important and valuable in the oil patch. When they are enforceable, they have the potential to end litigation completely or at least the financial burden for a particularly well-positioned indemnitee. But, with “anti-indemnity” statutes in play in several jurisdictions (including Louisiana), the enforceability of these indemnity provisions rely (barring exceptions) on the
Recently, the US Fifth Circuit addressed three maritime tenets in the same case: McCorpen defense, unseaworthiness, and regulatory governance. While these issues can be rather straightforward in the typical case, the facts in Thomas v. Hercules Offshore Services, LLC (5th Cir. March 2, 2018) provided an interesting review of each. The specific issues addressed in
On March 17, 2016, the Obama Administration announced through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) its newly proposed air quality emission regulations for offshore oil and gas activities. According to BOEM, the primary benefit of this rule is “to ensure that offshore facilities and operations are in compliance with the air quality objectives and