Maritime Law--Punitive Damages for Unseaworthiness Being Reviewed Again

On October 9, I blogged on the case of McBride v. Estis Well Service, No. 12-30714 (5th Cir. Oct. 2, 2013), where a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that seamen may recover punitive damages for their employer's willful and wanton breach of the general maritime law duty to provide a seaworthy vessel. The court found that previous decisions, to the extent that they denied recovery of punitive damages for maritime liability sounding in unseaworthiness, read too much into prior Supreme Court and appellate court rulings on related, but different, issues. You can find my discussion on that case here=> McBride Discussion.

At that time I noted that this was a potentially a major decision, likely to be appealed and certainly to generate discussion. Now, a majority of the circuit judges have voted in favor of granting the defendant's petition for rehearing en banc. You can find the en banc order here=> McBride v. Estis Well Service, No. 12-30714 (5th Cir., February 24, 2014).

Watch this space, as the question on whether punitive damages for unseaworthiness are recoverable is not yet clearly answered.

If you are interested in contacting me, you may reach me at mov@chaloslaw.com.

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ReThink + ReUse Center "It's How We Roll" Fun Raiser -- Bowling Night -- October 16, 2014

As many of my readers may be aware, I am the Chair of the ReThink + ReUse Center, a non-for-profit educational and environmental Center in Miami educating children into rethinking reuseable materials for learning through play. The ReThink and ReUse Center’s Quality Play is Learning Program provides a series of educational and participatory workshops based on the philosophies of Reggio Emilia and Harvard's Project Zero Visible Thinking. The Children’s Trust is the major funder of this program, but the Center is required to continually fundraise for the balance its annual budget. The Center is having a fun event you are invited to--the ReThink + Reuse Center’s “It’s How We Roll” bowling event on October 16, 2014 at Splitsville Luxury Lanes from 18:00 to 21:30 hours. My firm, Comcast and Waste Management are major sponsors for this event, but we could use a few more sponsors. If you are interested in sponsoring the event, please let me know by reaching me at mov@chalos

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