by Christopher Hannan | Jan 27, 2014
Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change,
into something rich and strange,
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell,
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell.
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
As originally discussed in a recent post on Striding the Quarterdeck (December 9, 2013), amendments to 28 U.S.C. §1441 have effected a sea-change in admiralty procedure by ostensibly allowing removal of general maritime law (GML) claims on a federal question basis, notwithstanding the Savings to Suitors Clause and the long line of jurisprudence under Romero espousing the proposition that GML claims do not “arise under” the Constitution or law of the United States. The jurisprudential trend affirming removal of GML claims under the revised version of §1441, which began with Judge Gray Miller’s decision in Ryan v. Hercules Offshore, Inc., 945 F.Supp.2d 772 (S.D. Tex. 2013), has continued, suggesting that this sea-change may in fact ring the knell of the old Romero non-removability rule. (more…)
by Christopher Hannan | Jan 22, 2014
On September 10th of this year, the President and CEO of the American Waterways Operators (AWO) appeared before the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and called for finalization by late 2013 or early 2014 of the long-languishing Subchapter M regulations relating to inspection of uninspected towing vessels (UTVs). http://transportation.house.gov/sites/republicans.transportation.house.gov/files/documents/2013-09-10-Allegretti.pdf. Thus, after more than a decade of regulatory delays and industry uncertainty, it appears that UTV operators can now bank (very literally) on the reality of mandatory Subchapter M compliance in the very near future. (more…)
by Christopher Hannan | Jan 21, 2014
In a 106-page Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued Monday, January 13, 2014, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) has undertaken a wide-ranging overhaul of the standards for fire protection, detection and extinguishment equipment aboard inspected and uninspected vessels, mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs), deepwater ports, and Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) facilities. This comprehensive and expansive overhaul is intended to “harmonize [USCG] regulations with appropriate national and international consensus standards; address advances in fire protection technologies and standards; update [USCG] approval processes for fire detection and alarm systems; and revise [USCG] regulations for other types of equipment or components.” 79 Fed. Reg. 2254, 2254 (Jan. 13, 2014). The proposed regulations span several chapters and subparts of two different C.F.R. titles – namely Title 46 (covering the USCG’s more historic shipping purview with respect to vessels) and Title 33 (covering the USCG’s hybrid/share authority over certain units/facilities/vessels engaged in operations on the OCS). (more…)
by Christopher Hannan | Jan 17, 2014
In the continuing regulatory response – even more than three years after the fact – to the DEEPWATER HORIZON disaster, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) has led off 2014 with proposed regulations that significantly change the reporting requirements for incidents on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Most importantly, these new regulations broaden the types of reportable incidents for foreign-flagged vessels/units/facilities operating on the OCS. (more…)
by Christopher Hannan | Jan 9, 2014
The federal district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in Johnson v. PPI Technology Services, Inc. (Case No. 11-2773, Rec. Doc. 305 (E.D. La. Dec. 17, 2013)) has scuttled an insurer’s attempt to avoid coverage for an act of piracy off the coast of Nigeria under the “Terrorism Exclusion” in a so-called Foreign Commercial Package Policy. The Johnson decision should be viewed as a jolly roger warning-flag to insureds and insurers alike to review their policies (hull, P&I, and general liability) regarding the applicability (or not) of terrorism/war risk exclusions to acts of piracy – particularly for companies working in the booming but dangerous oil fields off Africa, the haunt of modern day Barbary corsairs. The rash of recent piracy attacks on oilfield interests off the western coast of Africa has been widely publicized, but with a somewhat surprising dearth of litigation defining the potential liabilities for such incidents (at least in the United States). As such the Johnson decision is particularly important given the relatively scarce jurisprudence regarding insurance issues inherent in piracy events. (more…)
