Guilty Verdict in D/V CONCEPTION Captain’s Federal Criminal Trial

In the Labor Day 2019 D/V CONCEPTION casualty, 33 passengers and one crewmember perished, all below deck in the passenger bunkroom as the dive excursion vessel burned to the waterline just offshore Santa Cruz Island, near the California coast. The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted the vessel’s captain for gross negligence under the Seaman’s Manslaughter Act. The DOJ press release on this past…

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U.S. Coast Guard Shares Lessons Learned From Recent Small Passenger Fire Investigations

The Marine Safety Alert draws from casualty investigations, including the D/V CONCEPTION casualty in which 33 passengers and one crew perished, and includes admonitions on use of open flame candles, Sterno heating cans, and plastic trash cans, storage of combustible materials close to ignition sources, and clearly marking engine room escape hatches.

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Towboatlaw Has Moved - Join Us!

Towboatlaw Has Moved – Join Us!

Dear Towboatlaw readers and e-mail notification subscribers:

I have migrated the Towboatlaw blog from this WordPress standalone site, https://towboatlaw.wordpress.com/ and http://www.towboatlaw.com, to our main law firm website, and will be discontinuing the blog which has lived since 2012 at this URL.

So, please join me at the new web address for Towboatlaw, http://www.golawllc.com/towboatlaw-bl…

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Coast Guard waters-down radar endorsement training requirements for towboat captains and others.  Read our new blog post: http://www.golawllc.com/towboatlaw-blog/coast-guard-dials-back-radar-endorsement-training-requirement/

NTSB Posts "Illustrated Digest" on Why the EL FARO Sank, Killing 33 Souls

NTSB Posts “Illustrated Digest” on Why the EL FARO Sank, Killing 33 Souls

The National Transportation Safety Board recently published online a concise and easy-to-understand 16-page pdf document entitled “Sinking of the US Cargo Vessel El Faro.”  The ship sank on October 1, 2015, 36 nautical miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, and close to the eye of Hurricane Joaquin, which packed average wind speeds of 117 knots (134 miles per hour).

The…

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U.S. Coast Guard Ups Dollar Thresholds for Property Damage Marine Casualty Reporting

U.S. Coast Guard Ups Dollar Thresholds for Property Damage Marine Casualty Reporting

On March 19, 2018, the U.S. Coast Guard published a formal notice in the Federal Register, amending its regulations to increase the estimated dollar value of property damage required for vessel operators to immediately report the incident to this federal agency.  A reportable property damage “marine casualty” increases to $100,000, from $25,000, and a “serious marine incident” in the property…

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What our clients think...

A G&O client describes his experience hiring us after he destroyed his back jerking a wire on a barge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZnfgsVnqg0&sns=em

Significant Update on PA Insurance Law

The PA Supreme Court recently declined to make it more difficult to win an insurance bad faith lawsuit. https://www.facebook.com/GOLAWLLC/posts/1853812001615905

U.S. Coast Guard Releases Marine Board of Investigation Report on EL FARO Tragedy

U.S. Coast Guard Releases Marine Board of Investigation Report on EL FARO Tragedy

All thirty-three crew members of the container and roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, the EL FARO, perished on October 1, 2015, when the vessel sank near the eye of Hurricane Joaquin, en route from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The Coast Guard in its report faults, among others, the ship’s master and operating companies.  You can read the enthralling 199-page report here:

https://me…

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National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Releases 2016 Digest of Lessons Learned from 27 Major Maritime Casualties

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Releases 2016 Digest of Lessons Learned from 27 Major Maritime Casualties

According to the NTSB press release (https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20170727.aspx), “The lessons learned from the investigation of 27 major, maritime accidents involving loss of life, injuries and property damage are detailed in the National Transportation Safety Board’s Safer Seas Digest 2016, released online Thursday [7/27/17].

The publication is a compendium of the marine…

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Sun in your eyes? Just email Heather ([email protected]) in my law firm and she'll mail one right out to you. No charge. Happy summer from G&O! :)

‪Keys on the beach? Fob scratching your tank? Email Heather ([email protected]) for our free, stress-reliever keychain. Happy summer from G&O!‬

G&O are 2017 PA Super Lawyers

G&O is honored that Fred Goldsmith and Rich Ogrodowski have been included in the 2017 listings of “Pennsylvania Super Lawyers℠” by Super Lawyers Magazine, a designation only 5% of Pennsylvania lawyers achieve. Fred was named in the category "Transportation Law/Maritime" (one of only 11 lawyers statewide) and Rich in "Personal Injury General: Plaintiff."

$400,000 Judgment for Seaman's Pre-Death Fear and Conscious Pain and Suffering Affirmed on Appeal

$400,000 Judgment for Seaman’s Pre-Death Fear and Conscious Pain and Suffering Affirmed on Appeal

In McBride v. Estis Well Service, L.L.C., 2017 WL 1321979 (5th Cir. Apr. 10, 2017), Sky Sonnier, a crewman on a barge supporting a truck-mounted drilling rig operating in Louisiana navigable waters, was killed when the rig and truck toppled over, pinning him between the derrick and mud tank.  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district judge’s finding that Sonnier’s survivors were…

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WA State Supreme Court: Jones Act Seaman Can Recover Punitive Damages in Unseaworthiness Claim

WA State Supreme Court: Jones Act Seaman Can Recover Punitive Damages in Unseaworthiness Claim

In Tabingo v. American Triumph LLC, No. 92913-1 (Wa. March 9, 2017) (en banc), the Washington (state) Supreme Court held, as a matter of law, the issue of the recoverability of punitive damages in a Jones Act seaman’s general maritime law unseaworthiness claim is governed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s analysis in Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend, 557 U.S. 404 (2009).  The Washington Supreme Court,…

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Court Finds Seaman's Protection Act Requires Tug Captain Fired for Reporting Safety Violations be Re-Hired

Court Finds Seaman’s Protection Act Requires Tug Captain Fired for Reporting Safety Violations be Re-Hired

In Harley Marine Services, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Labor, 2017 WL 370843 (11th Cir. Jan. 26. 2017), the Court ruled the justification Harley Marine gave for firing tug captain Joseph E. Dady was pretextual, that Harley Marine fired Dady for reporting unsafe activities which violated federal law or regulation, and that Harley knew about Dady’s reports when it fired him. The violations Dady…

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