Despite being from a coastal state where the dangers maritime workers face every day should be well appreciated, Judge Samuel Alito wrote the U.S. Supreme Court's majority opinion refusing to allow a deckhand to claim punitive damages for an unseaworthy vessel. The decision, in this maritime lawyer's opinion, is adrift and inconsistent with the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Exxon Shipping where the Court recognized punitive damages are normally available in maritime cases. The powerful forces of industry are always pushing back making it important you retain experienced maritime legal counsel.

More soon after we've finished digesting this recent decision.

Underway and making way.

-- John K. Fulweiler, Esquire