F.C. Wheat Maritime Corp. v. U.S. When the captain of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessel fell asleep at the wheel and struck plaintiff’s 70-foot yacht, the Marquessa, docked at the pier at Ocean Marine marina in Portsmouth, the yacht was a constructive total loss based on two of three opinions in this battle of the experts, and the 4th Circuit affirms a $440,000 damage award for the fair market value of the ship at the time of loss.
In the Matter of the Complaint of Vulcan Materials Co. v. Massiah v. U.S. In this appeal of a $1.25 million wrongful death award against Vulcan Materials Company in a suit in admiralty after the death of a 19-year-old seaman when his rigid-hull inflatable boat collided with a tug during a Navy training exercise on the James River, the 4th Circuit affirms the district court award to the seaman's family members and its decision that the U.S. can't be held liable for contribution.
Styron v. Norfolk Dredging Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-02-0977, 3 pp.) (Terrence W. Boyle, J.) E.D.N.C.
Holding: Even though the complaint does not cite Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(h) directly, plaintiff has satisfied the Rule 9(h) requirement of designating his claim as one within the court’s admiralty jurisdiction: The header of the complaint contains the words [...]
Triton Marine Fuels v. M/V Pacific Chukotka. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-01-0723, 17 pp.) (Reidinger, J.) No. 07-1908, July 29, 2009; USDC at Baltimore (Motz, J.) 4th Cir.
Holding: In this maritime action in which Panamanian corporation Triton Marine Fuels Ltd., S.A, alleges that it supplied the M/V Pacific Chukotka with fuel bunkers in a foreign port [...]
In re: Compania Naviera Joanna SA v. Koninklujke Boskalis Westminster NV. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-01-0615, 35 pp.) (Niemeyer, J.) No. 08-1031, June 26, 2009; USDC at Charleston, S.C. (Norton, J.) 4th Cir.
Holding: In this complex litigation arising from the collision in Chinese territorial waters of a Panamanian vessel chartered by a Swiss corporation, with a [...]
Slavchev v. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (Lawyers Weekly No. 09-01-0250, 8 pp.) (Niemeyer, J.) No. 07-2036, March 11, 2009; USDC at Baltimore. (Quarles, J.) 4th Cir.
Holding: The 4th Circuit says a Maryland federal district court had no subject-matter jurisdiction over this suit by a Bulgarian citizen who alleges injury and disability during his former employment [...]
Evergreen Int’l v. Norfolk Dredging Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 08-01-0847, 15 pp.) (Hamilton, J.) No. 07-1879, June 25, 2008; USDC at Charleston, S.C. (Duffy, J.) 4th Cir.
Holding: The 4th Circuit upholds a district court’s decision ordering a ship owner to pay the Norfolk Dredging Company $898,975.42 in damages arising from an allision between the owner’s [...]
