Miami Shipping Law

I am excited to report that my LinkedIn profile is one of the top 1% most viewed on LinkedIn. Attached you will find the report from LinkedIn and what this means:  http://www.linkedin.com/200million/?_ed=0_2F8A0-FvYW6F6bWAAXSNrTTrPae67z_NEZnvoag8M3oMPARXg17TsMacdqdhYr69cVe8OLdrYFUzqhVYqI7vB04gPlm1k0S1s2rGyddj8MZtARRCmBoW2FY3Pe9JCfajdEW8I9d1yNNtkIFzHiVvKz Thanks to all the readers of this blog, as well as my contacts in LinkedIn, for making this possible! Best regards, Michelle Otero Valdés mov@chaloslaw.com

As reported by the Daily Business Review and the various national news outlets, it took little time for passengers who disembarked from the disabled CARNIVAL TRIUMPH to sue Carnival. A lawsuit on behalf of passenger Cassie Terry of Brazoria County, Texas was filed against Miami-based Carnival in Miami federal court Friday. It came just hours after the vessel arrived in Mobile, Alabama on Thursday after five extra days at sea without power.                                               CARNIVAL TRIUMPH picture from Bloomberg News     The 100,000-ton cruise ship became stranded off Mexico when a fire broke out Sunday in the engine room. The fire knocked out the ship's primary power source, crippling its water and plumbing systems and leaving it ad...

As I have seen for myself when I navigate the Miami River and as reported in more detail in the Miami Today, publication date January 24, 2013, forty-two abandoned boats lie within the City of Miami's jurisdiction. The City Commission appears finally set to do something about this problem. City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has asked the City Manager and the administration to find a strategy for removing the vessels. Boats that are abandoned in the waterways can pose a hazard to navigation and to the environment. The State of Florida needs to have a stronger commitment to provide clean, safe and enjoyable recreational boating on its waterways. The State of California administers a grant program to assist local agencies in removing abandoned vessels from the waterways. California also recently released a report on recommendations for reducing the number of boats abandoned in California. In addition, there are federal agencies that educate the various states and local municipaliti...

In Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Minton , the Virginia Supreme Court reversed and remanded a decision of a jury on January 10, 2013, holding that the award of $12.5 million in punitive damages was inappropriately granted because punitive damages are a remedy prohibited by the terms of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act ("LHWCA"). Rubert Minton suffered injuries as a result of developing mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos while working on Exxon Mobile Corporation ("Exxon") ships during his employment at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company (Shipyard). Minton filed suit against Exxon under the federal LHWCA for failure to warn Minton of, and protect him from, the dangers associated with asbestos. The jury found in favor of Minton and awarded him compensatory damages, medical expenses, and punitive damages. Exxon appealed. The Virginia Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case back to the trial court.First, the Supreme Court upheld the j...

As I blogged on October 4, 2012 at  http://miamishippinglaw.blogspot.com/2012/10/is-houseboat-house-or-vessel.html , Fane Lozman took his eviction by the city of Rivera Beach (the "City") from his houseboat to the U.S. Supreme Court during their fall session. The U.S. Supreme Court has now ruled that Lozman’s houseboat was a "floating home" and has ruled that his floating home is not a vessel. In reading the decision, it was obvious by reading the first line of the decision that the Court had ruled in Lozman's favor. The houseboat was called a floating home, which was described as a house-like plywood structure with an empty bilge space underneath the main floor to keep it afloat. Don't all houses have empty bilge spaces underneath to keep them afloat? The Court noted that Lozman had the houseboat towed several times before deciding on a marina owned by the City.  After various disputes with Lozman and unsuccessful efforts to evict him from the ...

With the launch of International Labour Organization’s Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), I have received numerous queries from various sources in the maritime community. It is clear that many shipowners/operators will have a whole slew of new responsibilities to match up to. As part of its education efforts, the International Shipping Federation employers’ organization has published new guidelines to help operators to ensure compliance with MLC, which will enter into force in August 2013. With the clock ticking, the guide takes shipping companies through their obligations under the ILO convention and illustrates how to apply ILO standards on board ships in a practical manner. This includes MLC requirements relating to seafarers’ contractual arrangements, oversight of manning agencies, work and rest hours, health and safety, crew accommodation, catering standards and new requirements concerning on board complaints procedures. Compliance with all relevant standards can also be ...

A $3.5 million jury verdict against Miami-Dade County and a declaration that a county ordinance regulating stevedores was unconstitutional were affirmed Friday morning by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The decision means that Florida Transportation Service Inc., which complained it was unfairly denied a permit to operate at the Port of Miami in 2003, 2004 and 2005, will collect a total $4 million in damages from the county.  "The permitting practices did not further, but if anything rather disserved, the county's purported purposes and benefits," said the opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Hull, Senior Judge Emmett Ripley Cox and U.S. District Judge Donald Walter of Louisiana sitting by designation.  U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan (who now sits in the Eleventh Circuit) in Miami ruled in 2008 that the ordinance on stevedores interfered with interstate commerce. Jordan ruled the county ordinance guaranteed work for the nine existing stevedore com...