Special Client Alert Developments on Rule B

by M. E. DeOrchis
Special Client Alert Developments on Rule B
Filed under Client Alert, Updates

Client Alert – Summer 2009

by M. E. DeOrchis

1. How can simple inattention to duties expose mariners to manslaughter charges?
2. Why maritime employers now face punitive damages for failure to pay maintenance and cure.
3. Why ports cannot tax ships on basis of tonnage.
4. Why market value is not always the right measure of damages in cargo cases.
5. Why a tortfeasor who settles a maritime personal injury case may not sue another tortfeasor who won’t settle.
6. How does a “Misdirected Arrow Clause” work in a maritime P&I policy?
7. When can arbitrators grant attorneys’ fees as sanctions despite contrary wording of contract?
8. What is government doing to provide legal protection to mariners who fight pirates?
9. How “Discretionary Function Exception” gets Coast Guard off the hook.
10. What is Coast Guard’s advice to mariners who fight pirates?
11. What are the new “2009 Rotterdam Rules” that will be signed September 23?
12. Is an area cordoned off for riding jet skis still subject to admiralty jurisdiction?
13. Why is “Deviation Doctrine” very limited under U.S. COGSA?

Client Alert – Summer 2009
Filed under Client Alert, Updates

Client Alert – Spring 2009

by M. E. DeOrchis

1. Why are shippers by rail bound by carriers’ limitations in contracts made by their freight forwarders? What’s the remedy?
2. Can a maritime attachment be made of funds that arrive at the bank the day after the attachment order is served?
3. Does an ocean carrier that hires a rail carrier to move goods to destinations in the U.S. become a “rail carrier” subject to the Carmack Amendment that applies to land carriers? Can that rail carrier claim defenses under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act?
4. Can an injured boat owner who told the hospital he fell out of his boat succeed in a suit alleging he tripped on a pier?
5. Why does it take more than just hope to succeed in getting a “Rule B” maritime attachment?
6. Why has the traditional rule that contracts for ship sales are not subject to maritime jurisdiction gone down the drain?
7. How can a party who accepts a Letter of Undertaking in exchange for not arresting a vessel find himself time-barred under the LOU?
8. Why is proving you did not receive a letter so difficult?
9. Can a New York complaint be served by mail on a party in Brazil contrary to Brazilian law?
10. Can an award against a maritime party be binding against its insurer even under an indemnity only policy?

Client Alert – Spring 2009
Filed under Client Alert, Updates

Client Alert – Winter 2008/2009

by M. E. DeOrchis

1. Is an ocean carrier who issues an intermodal bill of lading that includes some land carriage in the U.S. bound by the Carmack Amendment that applies to rail and motor carriers?
2. When is it dangerous to rely on a U.S. Coast Guard Certificate approving on-deck stowage.
3. Can you avoid attachment of your electronic funds passing through New York courts by putting an exclusive foreign forum clause in the maritime contract, or by using a bank in a state that prohibits such attachments?
4. What are the new safety requirements for providers of intermodal equipment to be used in the U.S.?
5. What are the new rules for lifting two containers one on top of the other at the same time?
6. What new rights for passengers have been adopted by the European Union?
7. If your shipment is damaged by some dangerous cargo of another shipper on the same vessel, what do you have to prove to recover from that shipper?
8. Can a Master rely upon a compulsory pilot?
9. Can you appeal arbitrators’ legal errors in construing a contract?
10. What important changes are included in the new proposed Convention for International Carriage of Goods, known as the “Rotterdam Rules”?

Client Alert – Winter 2008/2009
Filed under Client Alert, Updates

Client Alert – Fall 2008

by M. E. DeOrchis

1. Why must an ocean carrier who issues an intermodal B/L that includes land carriage in the U.S.A. offer the shipper the benefits of the Carmack Amendment?
2. Is a subcontractor railroad that damages cargo on the way to a seaport covered by the ocean carrier’s bill of lading even before it is issued to the shipper.
3. Does a breach of warranty in a maritime policy void an insured’s coverage even when the breach is not related in any way to the loss claimed?
4. Why must entries made in a foreign vessel’s oil record book be accurate upon entering a U.S. port?
5. Can the owner of a chartered vessel that is arrested attach the charterer’s property as counter-security?
6. What are the risks of filing suit in a state court when the passenger ticket provides that any suit to be filed in a federal court?
7. Can a shipper hold the vessel’s port agent in Spain personally liable for cargo damage caused by the vessel at sea?
8. Should a SOLAS Dangerous Goods Packing List provided by the shipper contain the telephone numbers of the persons responsible for packing the dangerous goods?
9. What does it mean that a defendant can vacate an attachment in New York when defendant can prove that it could have been sued in “another jurisdiction convenient to the plaintiff”?
10. How are fat Americans affecting vessel stability regulations?
11. When can the U.S. Coast Guard board a foreign vessel on the high seas?
12. What limitation is applicable under U.S. COGSA when an unpacked auto is shipped in a container?

Client Alert – Fall 2008
Filed under Client Alert, Updates