War, Memory, and Culture: The Uncertain Legal Status of Historic Sunken Warships Under International Law
Valentina Vadi | Article

In February 2012, seventeen tons of artefacts and silver coins recovered from the Spanish galleon NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LAS MERCEDES, which was sunk in 1804 by British warships in the Atlantic Ocean, were returned to Spain. Spain’s ambassador to the United States emphatically noted: “This is history. . . . This is not money. This is historical heritage.” Reportedly, the coins will be exhibited in Spanish museums. Read More…

The Derailment of a Transport Statute: How Regal-Beloit Shipwrecked the Carmack Amendment on the Shoals of COGSA
O. Shane Balloun | Article

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court decided that only the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), and not the Carmack Amendment, governs the domestic legs of international intermodal shipments coming into the United States by sea. While the Court sought to preserve uniformity in general maritime law, whatever meager uniformity the majority decision in Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. v. Regal-Beloit Corp. did preserve came at the expense of a plain-meaning interpretation of the relevant statutes and sensible jurisprudence. Meanwhile, the interpretation proposed by the Regal-Beloit dissent also would ignore the plain meaning of the Carmack Amendment, which otherwise arguably allows for the result reached by the majority. Read More…

Recent Developments in Admiralty and Maritime Law at the National Level and in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
David W. Robertson & Michael F. Sturley | Recent Developments

This is the twelfth article in a series of annual reports on U.S. admiralty and maritime law and practice. In these articles we try to call attention to the principal national-level developments that bear on the work of admiralty judges, lawyers, and scholars, and we look more closely at the relevant work of the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.
Recent Developments in Admiralty and Maritime Law at the National Level and in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits. Read More…

International Recent Developments: Australia
Kate Lewins & Ashwin Nair | International Recent Developments

This Article focuses on the significant decisions that emanated from Australian courts from 2011 to 2012. It aims to provide readers with an insight into Australian maritime law and its development over this period.1 The cases reveal that litigation tied to the mining and offshore industries have had a significant impact on the development of maritime jurisprudence in Australia. Read More…

International Recent Developments: United Kingdom
Theodora Nikaki | International Recent Developments

This Article provides an overview of the most significant cases concerning charterparties and the carriage of goods by sea decided in the United Kingdom during 2012. Read More…

Come One, Come All: The Second Circuit’s Messier Approach to Maintenance and Cure
Yaakov Adler | Note

Richard Messier, a tugboat seaman, fell off a ladder and sustained a back injury while working aboard the tug EVENING MIST, a Bouchard Transportation Co. (Bouchard) vessel. After seeking medical attention, his back pain quickly abated. However, during the ensuing medical examination, routine blood tests revealed an abnormally high level of creatinine in his blood. Messier’s creatinine levels continued to rise for a week, ultimately resulting in renal failure. After his symptoms subsided, Messier’s doctors ordered additional tests to determine the cause of his kidney failure. Read More…

Pirates Without Treasure: The Fourth Circuit Declares that Robbery is not an Essential Element of General Piracy
Ashley Bane | Note

In two factually similar cases, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was tasked with determining whether the piracy statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1651, encompasses attacks on vessels in international waters when the attackers do not seize or rob the vessels. Both cases were on appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where two district judges had reached divergent conclusions on the definition of piracy. Read More…

Turning a Blind Eye to Deaf Ears: The Fifth Circuit Examines an LHWCA Claim for Hearing Loss in Ceres Gulf, Inc. v. Director, Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs
Michael Dehart | Note

Claimant Norris Plaisance began working as a longshoreman in the 1950s. From 1982 until his retirement in 1988, Plaisance worked for petitioner Ceres Gulf. He initially noticed loss of his hearing in 1976 and subsequently obtained hearing aids. Plaisance was diagnosed with both conductive and sensorineural hearing loss upon his retirement from Ceres Gulf in 1988. Plaisance filed a claim against Ceres Gulf pursuant to the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) in March 2006. Read More…

A Decade Later, $1 Billion Saved: The Second Circuit Relieves a Maritime Classification Society of Unprecedented Liability for Environmental and Economic Damages in Reino de España v. American Bureau of Shipping, Inc.
Imran Naeemullah | Note

After sailing the world for more than a quarter century, the oil tanker PRESTIGE met a sudden demise in November 2002 when she sank 140 miles off the coast of Spain, following internal structural failure. Consequently, the PRESTIGE’s hazardous cargo of fuel oil spilled into the ocean, eventually washing onto Spain’s beaches and coastline. Read More…

Chapparro v. Carnival Corp.: Playing the Game of Pleading Maritime Torts Under the Plausibility Standard
Michael G. Razeeq | Note

A Caribbean cruise ended in chaos on July 12, 2010, when rival gang members exchanged retaliatory gunfire during a funeral near Coki Beach in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. During the altercation, gang members shot and killed an innocent bystander, Liz Marie Perez Chaparro, who was a passenger on vacation aboard the Carnival cruise ship M/V VICTORY. Read More…

Quantum Survey 2011-2012 Survey of Admiralty Personal Injury Awards
Siwei Chu, Victor M. Dantin & Terence Wise | Quantum Survey

This survey compiles personal injury awards decided by federal and state courts from 2011 through 2012. We have classified the decisions according to the nature of the injury. NB: Plaintiffs often suffer multiple injuries. Read More…

Collision Survey 2011-2012 Survey of Allision and Collision Decisions in the Federal and State Courts
Siwei Chu, Victor M. Dantin & Terence Wise | Collision Survey

This survey compiles and organizes allision and collision decisions by federal and state courts during the past two years. For allisions, incidents are classified by the type of structure with which the vessel allided. For collisions, the incidents are categorized chronologically. Many incidents could fall within multiple categories. These cases are classified according to the most significant aspect of the incident. Read More…

Forum Selection Clause Survey 2011-2012
Siwei Chu, Victor M. Dantin & Terence Wise | Forum Selection

This survey compiles and organizes case decisions regarding the enforceability of forum selection clauses (FSC) contained in bills of lading, charterparties, and other maritime contracts. The case summaries are classified by whether the FSC was enforced, not enforced, or conditionally enforced. If the court did not make one of these three determinations, then that information is provided, as well. Read More…