Federal Litigation

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New maritime arbitration case from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  It arises from a sexual assault perpetrated by a cruise ship employee upon another employee.  The victim brought suit against the cruise line asserting various maritime employment causes of action (Jones Act, maintenance and cure, etc.)  The employer sought to compel arbitration of her complaint per her employment agreement.  The…

Supplementing my earlier post on the Roberts v. Sea-Land Services, Inc. case, I have obtained copies of the cert-phase briefs from Claimant’s counsel.

Claimant’s Petition

U.S. Brief in Opposition

Claimant’s Reply

The Claimant sought review on the following Questions Presented:

The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 901-50 (“Longshore Act”) provides generally…

In a case ripped from the tales of yore or the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals found that the U.S. courts had no in rem jurisdiction over a sunken Spanish ship.  The case is Odyssey Marine Exploration v. The Unidentified Shipwrecked Vessel, Its Apparel, Tackle, Appurtenances &…

New Federal Tort Claims Act case from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The case involved an issue of whether the USA is entitled to an up-the-ladder immunity that companies enjoy under Kentucky state law.  The Sixth Circuit found that the USA was so entitled and affirmed the summary dismissal of the claimant’s lawsuit.  The case is Himes v. USA…

New Ninth Circuit case involving a maritime tort claim against a cruise ship for injuries suffered during a port call.  The case is Samuels v. Holland American Line-USA Inc., et al. and it can be found here.

Facts:  The plaintiff was injured during a port call to Cabo San Lucas.  His injuries were caused by…

Occasionally, I'll digress from the usual eclectic fare of this blog to share some interesting cases from around the country.

I posted earlier about the Stolen Valor Act case arising from California.  The case involved a man asserting his receipt of the Medal of Honor.  Per the Ninth Circuit:

Apparently, Alvarez makes a hobby of lying about himself to make people think he is “a psycho from the mental ward with Rambo stories.” The summer before his election to the water district board, a woman informed the FBI about Alvarez’s propensity for making false claims about his military past. Alvarez told her that he won the Medal of Honor for rescuing the American Ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis, and that he had been shot in the back as he returned to the embassy to save the American flag. Alvarez reportedly told another woman that he was a Vietnam veteran helicopter pilot who had been shot down but then, with the help of his buddies, was able to get the chopper back into the sky.

The Ninth Circuit reversed the conviction, here .  As predicted, the United States just petitioned for Supreme Court review (petition here).  

The Question Presented is: 

Section 704(B) of Title 18, United States Code, makes it a crime when anyone “falsely represents himself or herself, *** verbally or in writing, to have been awarded any decoaration or medal authorized by Congress for the Armed Forces of the United States.”  The Question Presented is Whether 18 U.S.C. 704(B) is facially invalid under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Stay tuned.

 

An environmental group has brought a federal court lawsuit against various federal officials seeking to enjoin the issuance of permits to the Kona Blue Water Fish aquaculture operation.  The complaint can be downloaded here.

The complaint alleges that the issuance of permits for the aquaculture operation violates the Marine Sanctuaries Act, the National …