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
Contractors are not Subject to Criminal Charges for Violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
By Kean Miller on
Posted in Admiralty and Maritime, Louisiana In General
By the Admiralty and Maritime Team
Yesterday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals released its decision in USA v. Don Moss, et al., 2017 WL 4273427 (5th Cir. 2017) affirming the Eastern District’s ruling that oilfield contractors cannot be held liable for criminal violations of the Outer Continental Shelf’s Lands Act (OCSLA), 43…
BSEE Notice to Lessees: Revised OCSLA Civil Penalty Assessment Matrix
By Tod Everage on
Posted in Admiralty and Maritime
On February 3, 2017, BSEE issued its first Notice to Lessees (NTL) of 2017, advising of the revised OCSLA Civil Penalty Assessment Matrix. For the second time in 6 months, BSEE has increased the maximum civil penalty to $42,704 per day per violation, up from $42,017 per day per violation that was set in July…
WDLA Rules That Offshore Contractors Are Not Subject To BSEE Regulation
By Kean Miller on
Posted in Admiralty and Maritime
By the Admiralty and Maritime Team
In an earlier blog post here we highlighted the facts in Island Operating Co., v. Jewell, et al., Civil Action No. 16-145, currently pending in the Lafayette Division of the Western District of Louisiana. The central issue in Island Operating is whether a contractor that provides personnel to…
Obama Administration Announces Onerous Regulations on Emissions For All New and Existing OCS Oil and Gas Facilities
By Chauvin Kean on
Posted in Admiralty and Maritime, Louisiana In General
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…
Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act 101 – Who is Covered
By Chauvin Kean on
Posted in Admiralty and Maritime
The following is an overview of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (“LHWCA”) which introduces general concepts concerning coverage and benefits under the Act. It should be noted that there are many more procedural and substantive aspects of the LHWCA that are not covered in this brief overview.
Background on the LHWCA:
In…
U.S. 5th Circuit Decision Revives $400 Million Lawsuit Based on Choice of Law Issue
By Sean McLaughlin on
The U.S. Fifth Circuit issued a decision this week that addresses the murky question of what law applies to offshore incidents. It illustrates that the choice of law issue is not merely academic but has important real-world consequences. In this case it meant that a lawsuit for over $400,000,000 was given new life. See Petrobras…
Eastern District of Louisiana Judge: Punitive Damages are Unavailable to Plaintiffs Injured on the Outer Continental Shelf as a Matter of Law
By Tod Everage on
In 1953, Congress passed the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”), 43 U.S.C. 1333, et seq. to provide a set of “comprehensive choice-of-law rules and federal regulation to a wide range of activity occurring beyond the territorial waters of the states on the outer continental shelf of the United States.” Important in OCS personal…
Failure by One Plaintiff (Out of Four) in Consolidated Litigation to Adequately Plead Admiralty Jurisdiction Lost Bench Trial for All
By Tod Everage on
Posted in Admiralty and Maritime, Energy
An offshore helicopter crash resulted in four lawsuits filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana that were eventually consolidated for all purposes. Three of the four plaintiffs properly asserted that their cases fell under admiralty jurisdiction and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(h). FRCP 9 governs the pleading of special matters, and subsection (h) addresses…