Miami Shipping Law

The Sun-Sentinel reports that six months after the Costa Concordia cruise ship tragedy, another lawsuit has been filed against Carnival Corp. & PLC, owner of the ill-fated ship, along with subsidiary Costa Crociere (Cruises). The July 13 suit, filed in Fort Lauderdale in the U.S. District Court, alleges several charges against Carnival and Costa, including fraudulent misrepresentation, maritime negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs Amanda, Adrian and Brandon Warrick were among the more than 4,000 passengers and crew aboard the Concordia when it hit submerged rocks and capsized near a Tuscan island on Jan. 13. Miami attorney Gabrielle Lyn D'Alemberte, who represents the Warricks, said Wednesday the Warricks have a right to file a lawsuit here and not in Italy as the cruise ticket contract dictates, because they purchased their cruises on Costa's U.S. website. It also would be prejudicial to take it to Italy as they'd be barred from litig...

The Florida Supreme Court recently issued an opinion which makes MAJOR changes to the way pleadings and papers are served.  You need to familiarize yourself and your staff with these changes ASAP since the rules will take effect as of  September 1st for attorneys practicing in the civil, probate, small claims, and family law divisions of the trial courts, as well as in all appellate cases.   The provisions in the rules are mandatory . The short version is that ALL pleadings and papers must be served via email. This opinion significantly changes the way pleadings are served in Florida state court cases.  The opinion is 208 pages long, so this blog post is not intended to serve as an exhaustive list of all of the changes. However, I will start with two quick quotes from the opinion regarding implementation of these changes. First, e-mail service will be mandatory for attorneys practicing in the civil, probate, small claims, and family law division...

In Skye v. Maersk Line , 11-21589-CIV-ALTONAGA, a Miami federal court jury decided that extreme, compulsory overwork of a ship's crew member impaired his physical health and amounted to a shipboard condition for which the Jones Act is applicable. On May 16, the case resulted in a significant jury award against a worldwide cargo shipping company. Although the $2.36 million award was reduced to $590,000 because of comparative negligence, this case of first impression may minimize the distinction between physical and nonphysical injuries established by Consolidated Rail Corp. v. Gottshall , 512 U.S. 532 (1994). In Gottshall , the plaintiff, a Conrail employee, watched a fellow worker die of a heart attack while on duty. Gottshall's boss put off seeking medical treatment when the worker was stricken, kept the crew working and left the body at the work site for the rest of the day. Shortly thereafter, Gottshall entered a psychiatric facility.  He sued Conrail under the Fed...

I have presented a webinar for Lawline.com titled "Vessel Arrest and In Rem Proceedings in Admiralty Law." The course provides lawyers in most states CLE if you hear the entire presentation. You can hear the program, free of charge, by registering with Lawline.com by clicking on the following link: http://bit.ly/yFbATR This seminar is geared towards vessel necessaries providers and in particular, small boat service providers, as it gives "real life" examples of cases I have handled and how the provider managed to get ahead in what initially appeared to be a hopeless case. If you are interested in obtaining the complete materials, including the Powerpoint presentation and video, you will need to pay for the seminar on Lawline.com. I hope you enjoy the presentation and if you have any questions on any aspect of the presentation, please feel free to contact me at miamipandi@comcast.net or mov@chaloslaw.com .

On May 2, 2012, during MLA week, I was asked by the joint committees of Marine Torts  and Casualties and Cruise Lines and Passenger Ships to speak as part of a panel on the COSTA CONCORDIA casualty. The thrust of my discussion was on the insurance ramifications of the event. In a nutshell, I discussed the breakdown of the insurance coverages for first party and third party insurances. Carnival, the parent company of the owner of the ship, Costa Crociere, reported to have insurance coverage for damage to the ship above a $30 million retention and third-party personal liability coverage above a $10 million retention. Claims are the casualty will cost $1 billion. My ultimate conclusion in my presentation is that the casualty would not result in a hardening of the hull market and that the liability insurers were well placed to adequately deal with the matter. Because I have received numerous requests to obtain a copy of my Power Point presentation, please let me know if you ar...

The Maritime Executive reports that a federal jury in Miami convicted a Miami-based ship surveyor for lying to the Coast Guard and for falsely certifying the safety of ships at sea. Alejandro Gonzalez, 60, of Miami-Dade County was convicted by a federal jury in Miami of three counts of making false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard and one count of obstruction of an agency proceeding. The defendant faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison on each count. The jury found Gonzalez guilty of lying to U.S. Coast Guard inspectors and a criminal investigator during an interview in April 2009 about the dry-docking of the M/V CALA GALDANA, a 68 mt cargo vessel, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Gonzalez repeatedly claimed the vessel was dry-docked in Cartagena, Colombia, in March 2006, while evidence at the trial proved conclusively that the vessel was never in Colombia during 2006. Gonzalez was also convicted of falsifying documents in December 2009 for the M/V COSETTE, a...

In DE VARONA v. DISCOUNT AUTO PARTS, LLC,  23 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. D253a (S.D. Fla. May 6, 2012), the plaintiff moved to  remand a federal court case to state court on the grounds that the defendant's store manager was properly joined as resident defendant and that amount in controversy was less than $75,000. Judge Ungaro hearing the motion denied the motion for remand finding that there was no reasonable basis for the claim against the store manager, and where the removing defendant has proven that jurisdictional amount has been satisfied. This case is a win for defendants that remove cases to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction and are faced with plaintiffs that join improper, non-diverse parties for the sole purpose of defeating diversity.  The facts are as follows--the Plaintiff, a Florida citizen, initiated her action in state court, naming a Virginia corporation as the sole defendant. Later, the Plaintiff amended...