Admiralty Law: DeOrchis & Partners, LLP Delivers its Summer 2009 Client Alert

Legal newsletter is chock full of maritime law items. Well worth reading, says MarEx Editor Joseph Keefe.



DeOrchis & Partners has produced its Summer 2009 “CLIENT ALERT.” Within the document, several legal questions are answered. We thought that the maritime community might find it of interest. Addressed within the newsletter are the following items:



1. How can simple inattention to duties expose mariners to manslaughter charges? (Page 1)

2. Why maritime employers now face punitive damages for failure to pay maintenance and cure. (Page 1)

3. Why ports cannot tax ships on basis of tonnage. (Page 2)

4. Why market value is not always the right measure of damages in cargo cases. (Page 2)

5. Why a tortfeasor who settles a maritime personal injury case may not sue another tortfeasor who won’t settle. (Page 2)

6. How does a “Misdirected Arrow Clause” work in a maritime P&I policy? (Page 3)

7. When can arbitrators grant attorneys’ fees as sanctions despite contrary wording of contract? (Page 3)

8. What is government doing to provide legal protection to mariners who fight pirates? (Page 4)

9. How “Discretionary Function Exception” gets Coast Guard off the hook. (Page 5)

10. What is Coast Guard’s advice to mariners who fight pirates? (Page 5)

11. What are the new “2009 Rotterdam Rules” that will be signed September 23? (Page 5)

12. Is an area cordoned off for riding jet skis still subject to admiralty jurisdiction? (Page 6)

13. Why is “Deviation Doctrine” very limited under U.S. COGSA? (Page 6)



The “CLIENT ALERT” is not a legal opinion. It is produced quarterly and sent free with the compliments of DeOrchis & Partners, LLP with offices in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.





PHOTO: Vincent M. DeOrchis, head of DeOrchis & Partners, an Admiralty law firm founded in 1984.



CONTACT DeOrchis & Partners / Tel: (212) 344-4700 / E-Mail: [email protected]