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Federal District Court News

16 Oct 2023

Massachusetts Offshore Wind Farm Dodges Lawsuits over Environmental, Fishing Concerns

Credit: Avangrid

A U.S. judge has rejected challenges to federal environmental permits and construction approvals for a $4 billion offshore wind farm near Massachusetts, which commercial fishing groups have claimed will harm whales and impair their businesses.U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston last Thursday tossed the final two federal district court lawsuits directly challenging the Vineyard Wind project roughly 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, which would be the first commercial…

25 Aug 2021

U.S. to Restart Oil Leasing with Offshore Auction This Year

Image credit: Scott Bufkin/AdobeStock

The Biden administration said on Tuesday it would take steps to restart the federal oil and gas leasing program in the next week and plans to hold a Gulf of Mexico auction as soon as October, court papers showed.The move comes two months after the U.S Interior Department first said it would comply with a June 15 federal judge's order blocking its months-long pause in oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.That order was a blow to a key White House effort to address climate change by reining in fossil fuel extraction.U.S.

27 Oct 2020

Four Charged in Coast Guard Credentialing Scheme

© Pixel-Shot / Adobe Stock

Four individuals have been charged for their roles in a conspiracy to sell phony U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner credentials in Norfolk, Va., the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Monday.According to allegations in the unsealed indictment, Lamont Godfrey, 42, of Portsmouth, Va.;, Eugene Johnson, 45, of Norfolk; Shunmanique Willis, 43, of Texas; and Alonzo Williams, 45, of Louisiana, acted in concert to create counterfeit certificates from the Mid-Atlantic Maritime Academy (MAMA) and sell them to merchant mariners for a profit.

16 Dec 2016

Clear Contractual Language: What Are You Agreeing To?

Larry DeMarcay

The tightening of the marine markets over the last two years have pushed some companies to do everything that they can to avoid obligations that they feel are burdensome or take advantage of obligations that provide them with a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, many of these agreements were crafted during happier times, by employees who were motivated by simply closing the deal and without any real regard for the legal technicalities of the agreement. However, as the market has changed, these contractual details can have a long term lasting impact upon your company.

17 Jul 2016

BP Puts Tab for Gulf Disaster at $62 Bln

BP announced today that following significant progress in resolving outstanding claims arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill, it can now reliably estimate all of its remaining material liabilities in connection with the incident. As a result, taking into account this estimate together with other positive tax adjustments, BP expects to take an after-tax non-operating charge of around $2.5 billion in its second quarter 2016 results. This charge is expected to include a pre-tax non-operating charge associated with the oil spill of around $5.2 billion. This would bring the total cumulative pre-tax charge relating to the Deepwater Horizon incident to $61.6 billion or $44.0 billion after tax.

24 Nov 2015

When Conducting Investigations Consider 'Privileges'

Jeffrey S. Moller

Whether voluntarily or as required by the International Safety Management Code, the American Waterways Operators’ (AWO) Responsible Carrier Program, or some other rule or regulation, investigations of accidents and near-miss situations are routinely conducted by companies in the maritime industry. This is due to the widespread recognition that careful examination of the root causes of such incidents can help to prevent future occurrences. Faulty procedures, defective equipment, and inadequate training can all be identified in the investigation exercise.

21 Aug 2014

TMT CEO Files $100m IP Suit Over Vessel Sale

Hsin-Chi Su, Chairman and CEO of Today Makes Tomorrow Group (TMT) launched a suit in Texas federal court on July 28, 2014, alleging that a planned bankruptcy sale of three company ships, including M.V.D Whale, M.V.G Whale and M.V.H Whale, to Mega International Commercial Bank Co. Ltd. (Mega Bank) will strip him of intellectual property worth more than $100 million for each ship. According to Ken Liang's deposition at the court, Mega Bank is the agent for vulture fund Oaktree Capital Group. U.S.

19 Oct 2012

Signed Confessions

Convictions have been obtained for false entries in garbage record books and ballast water management records. What’s Next? Some years ago, I wrote an article lamenting the fraudulent entries made in many oil record books and the increasing use of those entries as signed confessions in the prosecution of ship owners and operators and senior shipboard personnel (particularly chief engineers) for making false statements to the US Coast Guard. Oil record books are required records on commercial vessels and must be presented to Coast Guard boarding officers on demand.

02 Mar 2012

NOAA Releases Restoration Plan for Cosco Busan Impacts

Final Restoration Plan Completed for Cosco Busan Oil Spill; Projects will Address Impacts from Ship that Struck the Bay Bridge. State and federal trustee agencies have released the Cosco Busan Oil Spill Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan. The document summarizes the injuries to wildlife, habitat, and recreational uses from the oil spill that occurred on Nov. 7, 2007. It also describes a number of restoration projects that will be implemented to compensate for injuries from the spill.

21 Sep 2011

Stretching the Bounds of State Sovereignty

The operation of vessels in international commerce has never been more complicated than it is today, particularly from the standpoint of regulatory compliance. A vessel operator must be cognizant of international, national, state and local regulatory requirements. In an ideal world, the regulations of subjects such as navigation safety, crew licensure or pollution would be uniform so that an operator could understand the law and more easily comply. In cases where the requirements of one jurisdiction differ from those of another, it would certainly be helpful to know where the line of demarcation between one jurisdiction and another could be firmly drawn. The regulation of air pollution emitted from large oceangoing vessels has been the subject of an international treaty for many years.

26 Aug 2011

Appeals Court Refuses to Close Chicago Locks To Deter Carp

On August 24, 2011, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit refused to issue a preliminary injunction to force the closure of locks on the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS). The case stems from the controversy as to how best to prevent invasive Asian Carp from moving up the Mississippi/Illinois waterway system into Lake Michigan. The state of Michigan and others sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Chicago to force the lock closures and other measures. Lock closures would result in immediate significant economic harm to PVA members that operate vessels in the Chicago area. The lawsuit is not over. It will likely return to the federal district court where the case will be heard in full.

08 Apr 2010

Class Action Lawsuit, Marine Products Price Fixing

Conspiracy involving marine fenders, buoys and pilings provokes action by public and private interests in Texas and Louisiana. Baron & Budd, P.C. attorneys, working with attorneys from Los Angeles-based Glancy Bingow & Goldberg LLC, New York securities law firm Labaton Sucharow LLP, Mobile-based Vickers, Riis, Murray and Curran, L.L.C. and Galveston attorney A. Craig Eiland, have filed suit in federal district court in Los Angeles over a web of conspiracies to fix prices and rig bids on several marine products. The Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and OSG Lightering LLC, who all purchased marine products that were the subject of the conspiracies, have sued on behalf all those affected by the schemes.

11 Dec 2009

Judicial Decision on M/V Mokihana Rebuild

On December 4, 2009, a federal district court in Va. entered judgment in favor of the U.S. Coast Guard and Matson Navigation Company, Inc. in a long-running vessel foreign rebuild case. Winston & Strawn LLP represented Matson. The Shipbuilders Council of America, Inc. and Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines LLC sued the Coast Guard initially in November 2006 seeking to disqualify the M/V Mokihana from the U.S. coastwise trade because of work to be done to the vessel in China. That initial suit was dismissed in 2007, but then re-initiated on December 10, 2007 after the work on the M/V Mokihana was complete. The M/V Mokihana, a container ship, had work done in China to prepare the vessel for the addition of a roll-on/roll-off garage added to the stern of the vessel in Alabama.

06 Oct 2009

Arbitration, Foreign Seaman’s Wage Claim

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a wage claim by a foreign seafarer against his employer for service on a foreign vessel is subject to arbitration. In the instant case, plaintiff Philippine seafarer brought suit against defendant cruise line alleging violation of the Seamen’s Wage Act. Defendant cruise line’s motion to compel arbitration in the Philippines was granted by the federal district court and plaintiff appealed. The order compelling arbitration was upheld by the appellate court, which ruled that federal law favors arbitration and that the collective bargaining agreement between with seamen’s labor union and the cruise line comported with the requirements of the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and federal law.

25 Nov 2008

MI Ballast Water Statute Upheld

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld the permit requirement of the Michigan Ballast Water Statute as a valid exercise of state authority. Plaintiff ship owners, shipping associations, port terminal, and port association had challenged the permit requirement and treatment system requirement of the state statute, asserting that they were preempted by federal law and violated the United States Constitution. The federal district court disagreed with these contentions and dismissed plaintiff’s complaint. Plaintiff’s appealed. The appellate court looked first at the standing of each of the plaintiffs. It recognized that the ship owners and shipping associations were directly impacted by the state law…

09 Sep 2008

EPA May Inspect a Ship for PCB

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to obtain and exercise an administrative warrant to inspect ships containing regulated chemical substances. In the instant case, the owner of an obsolete US Navy ship announced plans to have the ship towed to a foreign port for renovation and conversion. The EPA learned that the ship probably had polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) on board in quantities subject to regulation and might well be scrapped rather than renovated. The agency sought permission from the owner to inspect the ship, but was denied. It then sought an administrative warrant from the local federal district court.

07 Jul 2008

Liability when Both Vessels Violate COLREGS

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the determination of the federal district court regarding allocation of liability in a collision case where both ships had violated the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS). In the instant case, defendant’s tanker was entering Puget Sound. In accordance with federal law, it hired two of plaintiff’s vessels to provide escort service. In accordance with the pre-arranged transit plan, one of the escort vessels was to be tethered to the stern of the tanker and the other escort vessel was to position itself on the tanker’s port shoulder. Plans called for the two escort vessels to rendezvous with the tanker by proceeding on a course of 058 degrees true at 12.5 knots while the tanker…

02 Jul 2008

Maintain Your ORB

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the federal government may prosecute a ship owner and chief engineer, under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), for failure to properly maintain an oil record book (ORB) when the ship entered a US port with an ORB onboard that the chief engineer knew to contain false material entries. In the instant case, defendant chief engineer on a ship owned by defendant shipowner, allegedly directed the discharge of oily waste water from the ship on the high seas without making entries in the ORB required by MARPOL. The ship entered ports of the United States on eight separate occasions before the US Coast Guard discovered the fraudulent entries.

14 May 2008

Air emissions update

In 1997, the IMO adopted the initial version of Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). This Annex is entitled “Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships”. It addresses ozone-depleting substances, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds, and shipboard incineration, among other things. While acknowledged as comprehensive, this first step by the IMO in the area of control of harmful air emissions was perceived by many as weak.

07 Mar 2008

Failure to report oil discharges and the False Claims Act

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that an assertion by an employee that the employer failed to report illegal discharges of oil does not establish a right of action under the False Claims Act. In the instant case, plaintiff employee alleged that defendant employer, which operated offshore drilling units in the Gulf of Mexico under leases from the federal government, illegally dumped oil and other waste into waters of the Gulf and failed to report those discharges in its oil record book. The federal government declined to prosecute defendant for the alleged violations. Plaintiff filed an action against defendant under the False Claims Act, which allows a prevailing claimant to recover a portion of the false claim.

30 Jan 2008

SECNAV Views ASW Exercise Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln

The Honorable Donald C. Winter, Secretary of the Navy, and several reporters visited the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) Jan. 26 to observe how the Navy conducts Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) training using mid-frequency, active sonar while protecting marine life. The strike group is off the coast of Southern California conducting the training under the terms of a preliminary injunction that was partially and temporarily stayed in federal district court. The strike group was participating in a Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) to prepare it for an overseas deployment. "It is incredibly important for me to stay current on what is happening and see the changes that are implemented," Winter said.

02 Jan 2004

Misplacing Benton Harbor results in dismissal of action

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the trial court’s decision to dismiss an admiralty action filed in the wrong district. In the instant case, plaintiff contracted to have cold-rolled steel shipped from Belgium to Benton Harbor, Indiana. The bills of lading provided, in pertinent part, that any action was to be brought in the federal district court having admiralty jurisdiction at the U.S. port of discharge. Plaintiff brought suit in federal court in Chicago. Defendant ship owner filed motions to dismiss for improper venue. Plaintiff argued, among other things, that Benton Harbor was within the "Port of Chicago" for purposes of Customs regulations.

09 Mar 2004

Sentencing for False Distress Message

John McKay, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Rear Adm. Jeffrey M. Garrett, Commander, Thirteenth Coast Guard District, and Russell Barker, Special Agent in Charge of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Northwest Region, announced that today, the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess, United States District Judge of the Western Washington District of Washington, sentenced JAMES GARRETT BALDWIN, age 31, of Aberdeen, Wash., in Federal District Court to twelve months and one day's imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release for one count of Communicating a False Distress Message to the United States Coast Guard. The court also ordered Baldwin to pay $194,587 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard.