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A female Houston port worker had a lucky escape, after she fell inside the hull of a vessel last week.  The maritime accident occurred in the Port of Houston.  The woman apparently fell into the cargo hold.  Emergency rescue personnel, including firefighters from the Houston Fire Department were summoned to the scene.   A total of 15 fire resc...

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Hip-hop singer Sean Kingston has been stabilized and moved to the intensive care unit at a hospital after crashing his watercraft into a Miami Beach bridge, his publicist said today.  The vessel was later identified by People Magazine as a jet ski.   Kingston and a female passenger were injured when the watercraft hit the Palm Island Bridge ar...

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A fuel tank exploded and caught fire close to a cruise ship in the North Mole Cruise Line terminal of the British territory of Gibraltar on Tuesday, injuring at least two people.  The diesel fuel tank was used to refuel ships, and was located extremely close to the giant Royal Caribbean cruise ship the Independence of the Seas.  This type of fi...

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A California man is the sole confirmed fatality in a deadly fishing boat accident off Baja California.  At least seven people are still missing.   The missing tourists were part of a fishing expedition in Mexico, when their vessel overturned in the early hours of Saturday morning.  The Mexican Navy and the US Coast Guard are continuing efforts t...

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Over the past few years, as fishing vessels, cargo ships and other types of vessels avoid any travel in the Indian Ocean because of the threat of pirate attacks, it is not just the global economy that has suffered.  Collection of scientific data which has traditionally depended on the movement of vessels in these waters has also been impacted. ...

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final findings after an investigation into the 2009 boating accident in the San Diego Bay that killed a young boy.  According to the report, the accident was the result of excessive speeds by the Coast Guard boat involved in the accident as well as lack of oversight by the Coast Guard. T...

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A 27 year-old recreational diver went missing Sunday, July 24, 2011, off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.  The diver was part of a group aboard the dive charter vessel John Jack.  The dive group was exploring the wreckage of the Andrea Doria.   The Andrea Doria lies in about 200 feet of water.  It is an Italian luxury vessel which sank a...

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An important piece of offshore safety legislation that would have clearly defined how drilling safety plans in US waters should progress, is currently left hanging after lawmakers disagreed over revenue sharing payments to states.  The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was debating legislation that would enhance offshore drilling sa...

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The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has been strongly focused on increasing offshore worker safety and preventing accidents like the Gulf of Mexico BP explosion last year.  The agency has had its work cut out for it, as it struggles to deal with years of ineptitude, negligence and inappropriate relationships between...

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A worker on an offshore platform in the Gulf Of Mexico had to be airlifted after he suffered injuries in an accident.  According to the Coast Guard, the man was injured on a platform located about 55 miles southwest of Marsh Island. Crewmembers contacted the Coast Guard Sector New Orleans to alert them that a man on board had suffered serious f...

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Tug boat pilot, Matthew Devlin, pled guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge on Monday, August 1, 2011.  Two tourists died from the accident on July 7, 2010, when a barge crashed into a duck boat that was stalled in the Delaware River.  The operator did not receive notice that the duck boat was stopped in his path because he had turned his ...

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The Coast Guard published plans to implement a new inspection process for towing vessels last week.  In the 76th volume of the Federal Register released on August 11, the Coast Guard posted their proposed rules.  They plan to finalize the regulations in four public meetings this fall.  The new system will have two options for obtaining safety ce...

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The man killed in an offshore crane accident on Tuesday has been identified as  20-year-old Brandon Noland.  The Katy resident died at the platform where he was working that morning after a crane collapsed and hit him.  The autopsy released by the medical examiner's office stated that he died of blunt-force trauma from a crushing injury. By fol...

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Six oil workers were rescued after they were stranded for three days post Tropical Storm Nate in the Gulf of Mexico. The seventh worker, who had been rescued, died in the hospital. Out of the ten workers who were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, two died and their bodies have been recovered. Search efforts for a missing crewmember are still on. ...

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Frustrated at the continuing growth of piracy especially in the Indian Ocean region, shipping industry groups have asked the United Nations to step in and create an armed military force.  Four shipping industry associations, including the International Chamber of Shipping, InterCargo, BIMCO and INTERTANKO have written a letter to the United Nat...

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The pilot who was navigating an 810-foot tanker through the Sabine-Neches Ship Channel in 2010 was tired and suffering from a sleep disorder, while the second pilot was reading a newspaper, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report. Federal investigators said Tuesday that these factors, in conjunction with lax regulations, cont...

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A local barge company has been cited for 40 safety violations following an April flash fire that left two employees dead at its Freeport facility. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration cited Texas Barge & Boat Inc. with one willful and 39 serious violations, as well as penalties of about $220,000, after inspectors investigated the i...

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A Hercules Offshore liftboat that was struck by several waterspouts capsized in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana on Friday evening. Five crewmembers aboard the Starfish vessel were evacuated and rescued at sea shortly after the capsizing. They were treated for minor injuries at hospital in Houma, Louisiana, and released. The vessel, a 140-clas...

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A fire on a Norwegian cruise ship led to the deaths of two crewmembers, and evacuation of passengers on board.   The incident occurred last week, on the MS Nordly. The ship was sailing with 260 people on board, including crewmembers.  The fire broke out in the engine room and quickly spread.  Once it became clear that the fire was out of contro...

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Before the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, seamen were subject to ill treatment, including abuse and atrocious working conditions. They had no legal protection against their employers, and injuries, illness or death at sea were just considered occupational hazards. Part of that 1920 law, the Jones Act, changed those circumstances, giving seamen sp...

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The world's first clinical trial into the use of embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injury is continuing in California. Last week, another patient, the first from California, enlisted in the trial. This person has been paralyzed waist down, and is currently undergoing stem cell injection therapy at the Santa Clara Medical Valley Center. ...

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Every Jones Act seaman is eligible for maintenance and cure payments after an injury. These payments do not depend on whether the employer or the worker was responsible for the injury.  Maintenance payments are meant to cover the seaman's living expenses during the injury. These payments should cover rent, groceries, utility expenses, travel co...

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The body of a shrimper, who disappeared after a maritime accident in Cocodrie, Louisiana has now been found. The accident occurred last week when a 25-foot shrimp boat collided with a aluminum hull vessel.  According to authorities, the accident occurred near the Houma Navigation Canal and Bayou Little Caillou. A seventy-three man on the shrimp...

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The National Transportation Safety Board has released the results of an investigation into a maritime accident in the Sabine-Neches Canal last year that resulted in thousands of gallons of oil being spilled into the water.  The accident occurred in January 2010, and involved a collision between the tank ship Eagle Otome the cargo vessel Gulf Ar...

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Whether you work as a seaman, dockworker or offshore laborer, if you’ve been injured during the course of your marine industry job then you likely have rights under maritime law. Depending on your occupation, your injury claim is subject to different requirements and compensation rules. Qualified maritime lawyers can help you determine which la...

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The international maritime community marked September 1 as World Maritime Day. This year, the focus was on eradicating piracy. According to the US Coast Guard, maritime piracy now costs the world economy between $7 billion and $12 billion a year. Staggering as those numbers are, the human costs of piracy are far greater.  This World Maritime Da...

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The Jones Act allows a maritime worker to file a claim against a vessel owner, if he has been injured by unsafe work conditions on a vessel. These claims are called unseaworthiness claims, and are filed only against the vessel owner, not the employer. However, in some cases, the vessel owner may be the employer of the worker, in which case, he m...

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The International Chamber Of Commerce International Maritime Bureau’s latest global piracy report has both good and bad news for maritime lawyers. The bad news is that pirate attacks continued to rise this year to record levels. The good news however, is that more and more vessels are being successful in thwarting pirate attacks. According to t...

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Distracted operation of a vessel may involve more than cell phones and texting devices as maritime lawyers often see. The captain of a British ferry that crashed into a French fishing vessel in March this year was distracted by, among other things, a discussion of the way actress Halle Berry looked like in the movie, “Catwoman.” According to an...

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Families of seamen killed in the course of work may have legal recourse under U.S. maritime laws. The circumstances will determine which laws you are able to file claims under.  If your loved one was killed at sea while working, an experienced maritime lawyer can help determine your rights and assist you in deciding whether to file a claim. Wh...

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Commercial divers can suffer serious injuries or even die as a result of employer negligence. However, not all commercial divers may be eligible for Jones Act seaman status, which means that they may not be eligible to file a lawsuit under the Act.The very first condition that a commercial diver must satisfy is that he must meet the requirements...

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Commercial divers can suffer serious injuries or even die as a result of employer negligence. However, not all commercial divers may be eligible for Jones Act seaman status, which means that they may not be eligible to file a lawsuit under the Act.The very first condition that a commercial diver must satisfy is that he must meet the requirements...

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Maritime attorneys and environmental groups will not quickly forget last year's Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and the resulting spill. In New Zealand, the government is struggling to contain that country’s biggest oil spill, resulting after a maritime accident earlier this month. The Liberia-flagged Rena ran aground on October 5 about 22 km ...

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Maritime piracy has been a serious issue facing the global community and international industries for hundreds of years. No longer are the pirates seeking gold or treasure, though. Piracy in this decade target ships carrying oil or goods, and also crewmembers have been taken hostage. Global efforts to stem the tide of piracy have been met with ...

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In rare cases, a maritime worker may have his rights to maintenance and cure denied because of undesirable behavior like alcohol or drug use. In a classic example of such a case, a worker who filed a lawsuit against Omega Protein Inc. has had his claim rejected. The man was a worker on board the company's fishing vessel, and sustained injuries ...

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Both cruise ship crew members and passengers may be eligible for damages in the event of an accident or injury on a vessel. However, the laws governing compensation for crewmembers are different from those for passengers. Passengers on a cruise vessel could suffer fall accidents, or accidents in the swimming pool or other amusement facilities o...

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A number of recent maritime incidents have had maritime lawyers concerned about increased access to technology on vessels, and the accident risks from this. In one incident, reported by the London P & I Club in its Stoploss Bulletin, a recent pollution-incident was caused by a duty officer's distraction.  The officer was apparently trying to ma...

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The international community has intensified efforts to prevent pirate attacks, and it is not surprising to see that pirates have been changing tactics to keep pace too. Typically, pirate attacks slump during the monsoon season. However, this year, the International Maritime Bureau has issued a statement warning seamen and shipping companies of ...

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A longshore worker who filed a claim under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act claiming negligence has had his claim rejected due to insufficient evidence. The man, who worked for a stevedoring company, alleged that he suffered injuries when he fell from a rope ladder on a vessel.  According to his claim, as he was going down the...

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An investigation by the NSW Office of Transport Safety has found several breaches of safety regulations at Australia's Capt. Cook's Cruises. These breaches include failure to record passenger injuries properly, and poor maintenance of vessels. Inspectors with the NSW Office of Transport Safety began investigating the Sydney-based fleet of 14 cr...

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The British government has finally agreed to allow British-flagged vessels to carry armed guards to protect them from pirate attacks. Prime Minister Mr. David Cameron announced that he was allowing this measure in order to protect vessels from pirate attacks, especially off the coast of Somalia. According to the British government, no vessel th...

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A bill introduced in the US House of Representatives would require rescue boats to be stationed within three nautical miles of offshore oil and gas drilling rigs.  The measure has been sponsored by Louisiana Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia. According to him, the proposal aims to find a common sense approach to the safety problems facing the offs...

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The captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast Friday, leaving 6 dead, is being held by authorities for suspected manslaughter. A search of the ship was continuing Monday in rough seas for 16 people still unaccounted for. A prosecutor confirmed they also were investigating allegations that the captain abandoned...

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Five more bodies were found Tuesday, bringing the total dead to 11 after the Costa Concordia hit rocks and capsized Friday off the Italian coast. The search for missing continued as navy explosives experts blasted a hole in the vessel’s hull to provide access to search-and-rescue teams. The ship’s captain was still in jail as investigators cont...

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The search for missing passengers off the Italian coast amid the wreckage of the Costa Concordia was suspended Wednesday after the ship shifted on the rocks, making the situation too dangerous for rescue workers. Since the luxury liner crashed into rocks and capsized Friday, 11 people have been confirmed dead, and 23 are still missing. Salvage ...

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A 15-year-old passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship has alleged that she was sexually assaulted by two fellow passengers on a cruise line this Christmas.  The two male passengers, including a 20-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy, are being accused of luring the young girl to a private room, where they allegedly raped her. The incident occ...

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Rescue operations again were suspended Friday after the stricken Costa Concordia shifted in choppy seas off the Italian coast, increasing concerns about a possible fuel leak. Eleven people have been confirmed dead and at least 22 are still missing after the cruise liner struck rocks and capsized off the coast of the tiny island of Giglio. Also...

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Divers searching the Costa Concordia discovered another body Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 16 in the Italian cruise ship disaster. At least six of the recovered bodies have yet to be identified, but are presumed to include some of the 17 people still unaccounted for. The luxury liner ran aground and capsized Jan. 13 just off the tiny isla...

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If you have been injured in the course of work on a vessel, you may be wondering whether you need to consult a Jones Act lawyer. The answer, in most cases, is yes. The Jones Act is a federal law that provides a different system for workers compensation for those designated as “seamen.” The complexities of this maritime law are such that, even i...

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The Christmas holiday cruise season will soon get underway, and thousands of vacationers across the country will set off on a dream vacation on the sea. It is the right time for passengers to understand that there are dangers on a cruise vacation that they may not always be aware of.  MSNBC has a timely report on an increasing number of inciden...

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For years, it has been one of the biggest mysteries in the cruise industry. 26-year-old George Smith disappeared from his vacation on a Royal Caribbean cruise liner back in 2005. His body was never found, and speculation about his disappearance has continued since. Now, new details have emerged about his disappearance.  According to the New Yor...

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Back in 2004, a paint inspector found black residue inside the drinking water tanks on two cruise ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Line, the Norwegian Dawn and Norwegian Star. He believed that the residue was the result of the paint on the potable water tank leaching a chemical called acrylonitrile into the water. This chemical is believed to ...

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The International Maritime Organization has released data to mark 12 months of battling piracy. According to the statistics, the number of vessels held captive by Somali pirate gangs has dropped from 33 ships in February to 13 at the beginning of December. Further, the number of seamen being held captive by Somali pirates has dropped from 733 in...

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Over the past week, two passengers on two separate cruise vessels had to be medically evacuated after they fell ill. In the first case, a passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship began showing symptoms of appendicitis on the Explorer of the Seas cruise ship. The vessel was about 130 miles southwest of Key West at the time, and was heading back...

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More than two dozen passengers on a duck boat off California were rescued after a fire broke out on the vessel. According to the Coast Guard, it received a call over VHF-FM channel 16 on Saturday that a fire had broken out on the boat near McCovey Cove in California. The Coast Guard was able to reach the scene of the accident in the evening. Th...

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Russian transportation city officials are blaming errors made by the captain as the reason for the sinking of an Indonesia-flagged vessel in the Sea of Okhotsk. Russia's Far East transport department says that one of the main reasons for the capsizing of the Ginga was the violations of safety regulations by the captain of the vessel. The Ginga ...

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A scientific panel is recommending that U.S. offshore drilling companies take a more systematic approach to offshore safety in order to prevent a disaster like the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year.  The recommendations were made by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. In a new report, the two ag...

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Japanese researchers have successfully used stem cells derived from tooth pulp to treat damaged spinal cord cells. The research has been conducted on rats, and clinical trials on humans are still a long way off, but the results have been encouraging enough for researchers to be optimistic about the results in humans, too. The stem cells were e...

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No crewmembers have been reported injured in a maritime accident involving a Transocean oil rig and a supply vessel off the coast of Newfoundland. According to offshore safety regulators, the collision involved the offshore drilling rig GSF Grand Banks, owned by Transocean Ltd. and working for Husky Energy Inc., off the Newfoundland coastline. ...

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A worker on an oil rig owned by Brazil's national oil and gas agency has been killed in a fall accident. According to Brazilian state-controlled Petrobras, the accident occurred last week on the PUB-03 oil rig, which is located in the Rio Grande do Norte in the northeastern part of the country. The worker and two of his colleagues fell on the d...

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The U.S. Coast Guard had to undertake a medical evacuation of a containership crewmember, who suffered a serious injury on the vessel. The man was a crew member on the 855-foot Antigua and Barbados-flagged vessel Mare Phoenicium. The 62-year-old man had suffered a severed finger on his left hand. There is no information about how the injury occu...

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Investigators are looking into incidents of sexual assault of child passengers involving a crew member on two luxury cruise liners. The alleged sexual assault occurred on the Cunard vessels, the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth over a five-year period. The suspect is from the United Kingdom. Local police have confirmed that they are investi...

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A maritime accident involving two barges on the Mississippi River led to an oil spill, and caused a portion of the river to be closed down recently. The accident occurred on the Mississippi River about 50 miles from New Orleans. The accident involved a construction barge that was being towed by the tugboat Alydar and the tank barge, which was b...

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Barely a few weeks after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, passengers on another cruise vessel have been traumatized by a cruise ship accident.  According to Costa Cruises, a fire recently broke out in the engine room of the Costa Allegra. Cruise officials insist that the fire was contained and extinguished quickly. The fire did ...

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A 94-foot ship carrying about 1,650 gallons of diesel fuel ran aground Friday on the North Jetty in Galveston.The incident did not cause damage to the fuel tanks, and crews were working to remove the vessel without causing a spill. One crew member aboard the M/V Ashton T suffered a minor injury and was taken to an area hospital, authorities said...

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In 2011, there was a decline in the number of pirate attacks reported across the world, including the Somali Coastline where most of these incidents occur annually. However, according to the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center, the decline has been slight, and maritime piracy lawyers must continue their concern over piracy off ...

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If you have been injured in a maritime accident or perhaps been the victim of a crime while on a cruise, the matter of which court has jurisdiction will be particularly important to you.Jurisdiction concerns which court or courts have authority to hear a criminal or civil case, and this can be quite complex when it comes to maritime claims. A ma...

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Ever since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, maritime law attorneys have found Transocean and BP battling over liability and damages. A judge has ruled that Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, does not have to pay any compensatory damages arising out of the marine pollution that resulted after the disaste...

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Maritime accidents are a special type of case. A person’s right to a maritime claim for an injury that occurred at sea can vary by the status of the person, whether the injured person is a passenger or a crewmember of the vessel on which the injury occurred.The legal issues involving accidents covered by maritime law can be totally different fro...

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Several crew members were reported injured after a vessel ran aground near the Sabine Jetties near Port Arthur, Texas, recently. According to the Coast Guard, its officers from Sector Houston-Galveston were asked to respond to the site of the grounded vessel. The MV Ms. Pearl ran aground on the west side of the Sabine Jetties. There were four c...

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At least three crewmembers on a fishing vessel in the Antarctic are believed dead after a fire raged on board the vessel. At least 37 crewmembers have been rescued from the fire. The South Korean fishing vessel, the Jung Woo 2 ran into trouble in the Ross Sea, which is about 370 miles north of the US McMurdo Station Antarctic Base. The fire ori...

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The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday located two men on a shrimping boat who had been reported missing. Manuel Gallardo Castillo and Faulsto Gomez Jr. left Brownsville on Thursday, heading for Tampico, Mexico. Coast Guard searchers found the men about 1 a.m. Sunday, a day after they were reported missing. The Mexican navy also was dispatched to help...

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Maritime piracy has existed nearly as long as maritime shipping and commerce. Knowing a little about the history of prosecuting pirates and how international law has evolved can help a maritime lawyer in cases involving victims of this crime.Crime Against CommerceIn the past, maritime traditions quickly developed to give jurisdiction to any nati...

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An oil platform operated by Royal Dutch Shell in the North Sea has been partially evacuated after detection of a gas leak. There were a total of 76 crew members on the Gannett Alpha platform operated by Shell in the North Sea. Out of these, 48 members were evacuated, and returned to shore by helicopter. According to Shell, the problem came to l...

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A maritime accident involving a cargo ship in Kentucky caused a partial bridge collapse last week. According to officials, the accident occurred near the US 68/KY 80 bridge over Kentucky Lake. The cargo ship, the MV Delta Mariner, struck the bridge in the late evening. The 30-foot vessel was carrying rocket components for Boeing at the time. Fo...

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A tugboat pilot convicted in the July 2010 crash of a barge and tour boat that left two Hungarian tourists dead said in a deposition that the collision could have been avoided if he had been at his post. Matt Devlin, who is serving a one-year sentence for the maritime equivalent of involuntary manslaughter, was on a cellphone for a family emerg...

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