Winston & Strawn: Briefing Issued on Implications of Oil Record Book Ruling

Court applied what is essentially a strict liability standard that would make a ship owner criminally liable whenever one of its vessels is found to have brought an ORB with false entries into U.S. waters.

On January 20, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the jury conviction of Ionia Management S.A. for failing to “maintain” an oil record book ("ORB") while in U.S. waters. In its decision, the Second Circuit has joined the Fifth Circuit in construing the Act for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships broadly and extending vicarious criminal liability to ship owners and operators. Indeed, the court applied what is essentially a strict liability standard that would make a ship owner criminally liable whenever one of its vessels is found to have brought an ORB with false entries into U.S. waters.

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