 | | MRSG December 2004 Newsletter | |
- Mark T. Mahfouz and Donald R. Wing have joined the firm as associates.
- Robert H. Murphy and Peter B. Sloss spoke at the 2004 Passenger Vessel Association Convention on the topic of Recent Developments in Maritime Law.
- On April 16, 2004, the firm hosted a seminar at the Loew’s Hotel dealing with various maritime, employment, insurance and oilfield topics.
- The Energy Committees of the ABA published an article by Peter B. Tompkins in its August 2004 newsletter entitled, Contract Risk Management and Insurance Issues in Oilfield Contracts. On October 5, 2004, Mr. Tompkins addressed a group of shipowner claims representatives on the subject of developments in the field of maritime personal injury law. He is scheduled to talk on the Louisiana and Texas Oilfield Indemnity Acts on February 17-18, 2005, at the 56th Annual Program on Oil and Gas Law in Houston, Texas.
- The firm has been involved in several recent cases of note. In a trio of cases, Martin v. Boyd Gaming Corp., 374 F.3d 375 (5th Cir. 2004); Hertz v. Treasure Chest Casino, L.L.C., 274 F.Supp.2d 795 (E.D.La.2003); and Arch v. Treasure Chest Casino, L.L.C., 306 F.Supp.2d 640 (E.D.La. 2004), the firm successfully argued that the TREASURE CHEST casino boat has been taken out of navigation; therefore, employees of the TREASURE CHEST no longer have Jones Act claims.
- In Amizola v. Dolphin Shipowner, S.A. (not yet reported) the firm was successful in having the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana enforce the arbitration and forum selection clauses included in the employment contract of a Filipino seaman. The Jones Act claims were dismissed and the case sent to the Philippines for arbitration.
- In Ferrostaal, Inc. v. M/V CERINTHUS, 2004 A.M.C. 1134 (E.D. La. 2004), the court ruled in favor of the firm’s clients in a COGSA case involving alleged freshwater rust damage to a cargo of cold rolled steel coils, finding that the plaintiff had failed to meet its burden of proving that the freshwater damage occurred during the ocean carriage and through the fault of the carrier.
- In Irvin v. United States Military Sealift Command, 2004 A.M.C. 1076 (5th Cir. 2004), the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment dismissal of a longshoreman’s 905(b) claim, where the oil on the deck on which he allegedly slipped was an open and obvious condition.
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