New Defense Base Act case from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is Fisher v. Halliburton, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 641 and can be found here.
The facts are straightforward: several employees of Kellogg Brown & Root were killed in Iraq while driving logistics trucks in Iraq. Their widows and family
Update: the Supreme Court is considering the Ninth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Alvarez, relating to the Stolen Valor Act. My earlier posts on this case are here and here. Mr. Alvarez just filed his Brief which can be downloaded (Respondent’s Brief)
The Question Presented is:
Section 704(B) of Title
News Flash – the Supreme Court issued a decision in Pacific Operations Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, an Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act/Longshore Act case arising from the Ninth Circuit. The Supreme Court affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s decision, rejecting the approaches adopted by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Roberts v. Sea-Land Services case. The transcript of oral arguments is here.
The issue in this case is when an injured longshore worker’s “Average Weekly Wage” is to be determined: at the time of the entitlement to an award of compensation or the actual
The Asian Carp. It is an ugly fella. Should the federal government be required to install block nets to stop these beasties from invading the Great lakes? We’ll see if the Supreme Court thinks that is a question it should be asking.
Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.
The Asian Carp is an invasive
You know you have a backlog of cases to post when you see a cert petition appealing the un-blogged case….
So, to rectify that delay, let’s talk about what is a “vessel” – or if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, but can’t swim like a duck ….
Before we start –
I put together a quick Legal Alert update on the West Linn Corporate Park v. City of West Linn case which is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. It will be about two weeks until we receive word if the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.
In the meantime,
Just back from a talk with the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii. I posted the outline of my talk earlier, but we will be watching this case, so I thought a post appropriate (bear with me – I know this is an ocean law blog, but I do practice a lot of
I just saw the Petitions to Watch on SCOTUSBLOG.
Two cases of relevance to this blog (in my humble opinion anyway):
For the Con Law wonks: Sun v. United States. This case arises from the federal district court in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. A criminal defendant challenged his criminal conviction on the basis that the trial judge was not an Article III judge, ergo the judge did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. The Ninth Circuit summarily affirmed the conviction, finding that the judge was an Article IV judge.
For the International Law wonks: Bowoto v. Chevron. The petition asks the court whether American companies can be liable under the Torture Victim Protection Act, 28 U.S.C. 1350 which provides:
An individual who, under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation— (1) subjects an individual to torture shall, in a civil action, be liable for damages to that individual; or (2) subjects an individual to extrajudicial killing shall, in a civil action, be liable for damages to the individual’s legal representative, or to any person who may be a claimant in an action for wrongful death.
No surprise in this petition because the Ninth Circuit acknowledged the split of interpretation of the Death on the High Seas Act, see my earlier post here. Stay tuned.
Cocaine smugglers have taken to use semi-submersible vessels attempting to avoid detection. The below photo is from a recent interdiction.
U.S. Coast Guard photo.
New criminal case from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals involving the constitutionality of the semi-submersible drug trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. 2285. The case is United States v. Campaz-Guerrero.