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Marine & Energy

Practice Area

Marine & Energy

The Marine & Energy Practice handles a broad array of matters from our offices located throughout the nation. Our clients include a wide variety of businesses involved in the maritime and energy industry, as well as marine and energy insurers. Our practice places a particular emphasis on the marine and oil and gas industries, from wellhead to gas pump, throughout the Gulf of Mexico, as well as maritime and energy litigation and transactional matters on the West Coast, along the Eastern Seaboard, and across the United States. Our Litigation group has extensive jury and bench trial experience in maritime and energy matters in the state and federal courts, works regularly in the appellate courts, and is adept at all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including arbitrations and mediation.

Casualty Claims

We represent clients involved in upstream exploration and production, as well as those involved in downstream refining, distribution and marketing. We have experience in the defense of catastrophic personal injury, death and property damage claims arising from incidents aboard ships, barges, vessels, terminals, marinas, onshore and offshore rigs and platforms of all kinds, as well as claims arising out of refineries, marine terminals, pipelines, service stations and construction sites.

Our attorneys have handled virtually every type of personal injury defense and property damage claim involving the application of maritime law. We regularly defend our clients and their insurers against personal injury and death claims brought by seamen under the Jones Act, the General Maritime Law and DOHSA. We defend third party claims brought by longshoremen/ship repair workers under the LHWCA and workers on the Outer Continental Shelf under the OCSLA. We handle personal injury and property claims arising out of the operation of marine terminals and equipment, as well as claims involving yachts and other small recreational watercraft. We also have experience defending maritime products liability cases.

Our attorneys have experience in complex maritime litigation including limitation of liability proceedings, in rem actions, maritime attachment actions, vessel arrests, ship mortgage foreclosures, general average, and other issues involving maritime liens. In matters involving bankruptcy of an opposing party, we can employ the resources of our Bankruptcy & Insolvency, Surety, and Fidelity Practices.

Transactional Matters       

Our practice also provides clients with expertise in negotiating and drafting master service agreements, ocean transportation contracts including charter parties, bills of lading, and terminal leases. Given our familiarity with these types of agreements, we are proficient with litigation of disputes arising from these transactions.

Cargo and Transportation Litigation

We regularly litigate cargo damage and loss claims arising from ocean, ground, rail and air transportation contracts under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), the Carmack Amendment, and the Montreal and Warsaw Conventions. Our lawyers also handle freight loss and damage claims, and litigate issues related to the collection of tariff and transportation charges. We represent transportation companies with cargo-related matters nationally (intrastate and interstate) as well as internationally and advise clients in matters ranging from freight and household goods to catastrophic injuries, to warehousing and self-storage.

Additionally, we consult and provide guidance on laws such as:

  • Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA)
  • Federal Chemical, Natural Resource, and Waste Transportation Law
  • Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
  • Hazardous Materials Transportation Act
  • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCPA)
  • Uniform Commercial Code, Article 7
  • Uniform Self-Service Storage Facility Act

For more information on our cargo and transportation litigation experience, please click here.

Ocean & Inland Marine Insurance

We have particular expertise in advising and defending insurance clients on coverage and bad faith claims for ocean and inland marine risks, such as P&I, hull & machinery, maritime employers’ liability,  operator’s extra expense, control of well, re-drill, builder’s risk, construction, property, charterer’s liability, business interruption, pollution, yacht, cargo, marina, general liability, excess liability, umbrella liability and other policies that insure owners, employers, carriers, charterers, ship builders and repairers, wharfingers, terminals, bailees and warehousers, freight forwarders and other third-party logistics providers and cargo intermediaries.

Toxic Torts Litigation

Working together with the firm’s Class Action & Mass Tort and Toxic Tort & Environmental Litigation Practices, our attorneys represent clients in defense of mass tort, toxic tort, and class action cases in the maritime and energy industries.

Chair

Vice Chair

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