The United States Coast Guard is searching for five people aboard an aircraft that crashed in the Gulf of Mexico last week. The crash occurred on July 8th around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The airplane was traveling from Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney Texas to Tampa International Airport,…
The search for a 38-year-old crewman was called off early Sunday July 5th after a week of searching. The crewman, Nhial Opiew, was last seen aboard the vessel, a 140 foot trawler named the Rebecca Irene, at 4 a.m. Saturday July 4th. The search for Mr. Opiew began around 8:30…
Congress is considering legislation holding the fishing industry to a significantly higher safety standard in vessel construction in an effort to decrease the fatalities suffered at sea. This bill would require training of all skippers and mandate Coast Guard inspections of vessels. This proposed bill has been under development for…
On June 25, 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the seaman’s favor! The High Court decided that seamen are entitled, as a matter of general maritime law, to seek punitive damages for their employers’ willful and wanton disregard of its maintenance and cure obligation. Punitive damages are now…
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office reports that two men died and one injured when their vessel hit a bridge during high tide on Huntington Harbor. The Sheriff’s Office said that alcohol was a factor in the accident. The report claims that these three men needed to duck to avoid striking…
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled a seaman may bring a Jones Act case against his or her employer after the three year statute of limitations if the severity and source of the seaman’s injury or illness were not known until well after the action leading to the…
The United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the fee imposed on ferry passengers was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause and the Tonnage Clause. This case questions the constitutionality of a fee imposed on passengers traveling via private ferry from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Port Jefferson, New York.…
A recent decision by the United States Supreme Court overruled the Alaska Supreme Court, ruling that the City of Valdez, Alaska improperly imposed a personal property tax upon the value of large vessels traveling to and from the city. Justice Breyer, writing for the majority, asserted that this tax violated…
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently passed new regulations requiring operators to provide a USCG-approved pilot ladder on domestic fishing vessels with a freeboard of greater than four feet. This pilot ladder will be a safe and enforceable means for authorized personnel to board larger fishing vessels. This is…
A 2006 report regarding commercial fishing fatalities has pinpointed Pacific Coast fisheries as one of the most dangerous places to work in the country. This report, written by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), reveals an average annual fatality rate of 115 deaths per 100,000 fishermen, more than 28 times…