maritime attorneys’
Common Symptoms of Neck Injuries among Offshore Workers
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
An offshore or maritime worker may be more susceptible to neck injuries because of the rigors of the workplace. Some workers like maintenance workers, or deckhands involved in cleaning or painting a vessel, may be at a higher risk of suffering a neck injury because of the strain on the neck muscles.
A neck injury isn't always as obvious as say, a head injury. There may be no visible signs of injury from the outside, and very often, the symptoms are very similar to those seen in other kinds of injuries like back injuries. This means that misdiagnosis of neck...
Somali Pirate Pleads Guilty in Attack on U.S. Navy Ship
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
This week, a Somali pirate pleaded guilty to charges arising from an attack earlier this year on a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa.
Jama Idle Ibrahim faced several criminal charges arising from the attack, and this week, he pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors. Ibrahim had been accused of opening fire on the USS Ashland in the Gulf of Eden. There were six men on the pirate boat. The U.S. Navy vessel returned fire, killing one person and capturing the other pirates.
This week, Ibrahim pleaded guilty to attacking to plunder a vessel, use of...
Confusion Marked Last Day of Deepwater Horizon
Friday, August 27th, 2010
The Wall Street Journal has a gripping account of the last day on the doomed Deepwater Horizon. The WSJ has taken Coast Guard hearings and witness accounts to present its version of what went wrong on the 20th of April.
There was much disagreement and confusion during the last hours of the rig. The confusion began with an e-mail sent by a BP engineer on the morning of April 20th. In the e-mail was a major change to a safety pressure test conducted to determine the well’s safety. According to the change, BP wanted to remove an extraordinarily large...
How Much Do We Really Know about the BP Spill Fund?
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Anybody who's been following the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, knows that BP has such aside a $20 billion fund to pay all liability claims arising from the disaster. However, there are key facts about the fund that, I believe, few people know about.
Money from the fund will be used to reimburse claims arising from state and local response efforts, as well as environmental damage. There may be very little money left over to pay claims to victims of the explosion.
Contrary to what Ken Feinberg, the administrator of the fund told Public Citizen, the fund is capped at...
Maritime Retaliation Is Illegal under Texas Law
Friday, August 27th, 2010
If you're a maritime worker who needs to file an injury claim or hire a lawyer, and have been afraid that your employer will fire you for this, you must know that Texas laws protect you 100%. In fact, under Subtitle B Chapter 451 of the Texas Labor Code, an employer may not discharge an employee or otherwise discriminate against an employee, if
- The employee has filed a Workers Compensation claim
- The employee has hired a lawyer to represent him in good faith
- The employee has instituted or caused to be instituted in good faith a proceeding under subtitle A (FN1)
- The employee...
Yet More BP-Transocean Finger Pointing at Houston Hearings
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
The US Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement are conducting another round of hearings into the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, in Houston this week. The hearings are scheduled to be spread out across five days. The first couple of days into the hearings have already had BP and Transocean coming out all guns blazing at each other.
Much of the hearing was dominated by BP executives blaming Transocean for the explosion. The head of marine authority at BP testified that Transocean had found dozens of maintenance issues in an audit...
UK Health Agency Reports Increase in Offshore Injuries
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
As we deal with the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion off US waters, it somehow feels worse to learn that offshore workers are not much safer on the other side of the pond either. Britain's Health and Safety Executive is pulling up the offshore oil and gas industry for an increasing number of injuries and fatalities. According to the agency, there has been an increase in major injuries and fatalities and unplanned hydrocarbon releases.
According to the figures released by the Health and Safety Executive, there were 50 major offshore injuries reported in 2009-2010. That was an...
California Law Still Doesn’t Require Prescription Drug Testing for Pilots
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Apart from environmentalists and maritime lawyers, no one remembers much about the 2007 maritime accident involving the Cosco Busan in the San Francisco Bay.
More than 53,000 gallons of oil spilled into the ocean, when the container ship collided with a Bay Bridge Tower, in November that year. The investigation finally pointed to the impaired condition of the pilot in charge of the ship at the time. John Cota was on a cocktail of prescription drugs, including Vicodin and Valium. In the days before the accident, investigators found he had purchased hundreds of pills, including painkillers acetaminophen hydrocodone...
Judge Throws out Piracy Charges against Somali Pirates
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
A US District Court judge has thrown out charges of piracy against a gang of six Somali men in an attack on the U.S. Navy vessel, USS Ashland this year.
The U.S. Navy ship was attacked off the Horn of Africa in April. The six were accused of opening fire on the vessel from a small stiff. The Navy vessel returned fire. One of the men was killed, and the stiff sank. All six men in the boat were captured.
Their lawyers argued that their actions did not amount to piracy, because they did not board the...
People Who Settle with BP Cannot File an Oil Spill Lawsuit Later
Friday, August 20th, 2010
BP claimants, who are waiting for settlements from the $20 billion fund established by the company to take care of claims, have another frustrating choice to make. If they decide to accept a settlement from the company, they have no way of knowing for sure if the settlement will cover all the damages, including those they might incur in the future. If they decide to decline the settlement and file a lawsuit, litigation could go on for years. It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it's advisable to consult with a Read More »
