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Admiralty attorney John K. Fulweiler's specialized knowledge in maritime personal injury and maritime death claims is well known. He has been interviewed by the New York Times and made appearances on various television news programs. He also writes a long standing column for WorkBoat Magazine an...

We used to send the newbies down the pier looking for bulkhead remover. It was a funny joke that never escalated beyond a collective laugh when the newbie returned swearing he'd looked all over and couldn't find any. Still, some shipboard situations aren't jokes and can put crew in those tough w...

Maritime injuries are different than injuries suffered ashore. Not only are they easier to suffer (think pitching vessels and saltwater-slick decks), but the remedies and processes to seek compensation are different. There's a lot of meat on this bone, but let's focus on two issues you might hav...

I took someone's deposition a month or so ago and they made some noise about knowing about me from my articles and it got me thinking that a prudent sailor should know a thing or two about depositions. A deposition is a form of discovery. Discovery is the process before a trial where each side e...

Let's face it; contracts are boring. There's no plot and they read like a confused sea. While you should always speak to your admiralty attorney, here are some common phrases and general information about they're meaning in the hope it'll help you the next time you scan a contract. 1. "Any and...

Whether on the dock or on the deck, there's always a lot of knowledge floating around. You likely give what the older guys or gals say more weight and maybe that's justified. As for me, I like to know for certain. Yea there's local knowledge that's not going to be printed up anywhere, but some s...

Defense attorneys when trying to protect an insurer's deep pockets (or, okay, their client's deep pockets) will sometimes "remove" a case from state court to federal court. "Removal" is a legal mechanism that when activated flips a plaintiff's lawsuit out of state court and into federal court. S...

Crew member's claims for unpaid wages remind me of the Dr. Seuss line about how business has got to grow, "regardless of crummies in tummies, you know!" Somehow those rhymes neatly capture how clinically businesses can operate all the while sailing past their legal obligations. Back in 1898, t...

I took someone's deposition a month or so ago and they made some noise about knowing about me from my articles and it got me thinking that a prudent sailor should know a thing or two about depositions. A deposition is a form of discovery. Discovery is the process before a trial where each side e...

Nothing is easy, right? Maybe the new hire just got popped for a DUI or maybe after the third trip up from the engine room, through the galley, over the rail and to the truck, you're trying to spin SAE with metric. I've huffed Marlboros wearing overalls and lawyered wearing suits and it's all th...

Today, the U.S. Coast Guard published an amalgamated version of the U.S. Inland Navigation Rules and the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions as Sea, 1972. Prudent skippers know the Rules of the Road and with Fulweiler llc at your side, a prudent skipper can prosecute or defend cl...

If you are looking for a brief break from the world around you, navigate over to www.dennisconner.com. Yes, the famous sailor who lost and then won back the America's Cup has his own website. Maybe resist the urge to purchase something right away and click over to the "Appearances" section where...

When you are injured aboard a cruise ship, you may feel like you don't have any rights. That's not the case. There are numerous federal statutes and extensive maritime case law pertaining to passsengers aboard cruise ships and passenger vessels. In 2010, the United States enacted the Cruise Vess...

If a vessel's crewmember is injured during his employment, he may be able to bring claims under the Jones Act for negligence or under general maritime law for unseaworthiness. It's well-settled that maritime employers are bound by a "dut[y] to avoid unseaworthiness and negligence," and that "inj...

Each year, the U.S. Coast Guard publishes a notice reporting on the results of random drug testing for the previous calendar year's MIS data and the minimum annual percentage rate for random drug testing for the next calendar year. The Coast Guard explains that the purpose of setting a minimum r...

You can lose faith sometimes, but don't lose faith in the maritime law of salvage. This is an awesome area of saltwater law and it'll have the crewmember and vessel owner making money for saving vessels in peril. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (think the appellate court of the Southeast U...

A commercial fisherman was recently airlifted by the U.S. Coast Guard from a boat off Gloucester, MA as a result of a reported severe hand injury. While the circumstances are unknown, the fisherman is almost certainly entitled to maintenance and cure. "Maintenance" is a stipend given to an inj...

Want to be a prudent mariner? The trick is not relying on one navigational tool alone. That is, the chart, navigational aids and the U.S. Coast Guard's recently released Light List should all be used to safely navigate your craft from here to there. The USCG Light List comes out annually. You ca...

A lot of maritime attorneys like defending the big guys. They like defending the big cruise line, the big conglomerate and the big insurer. Sure, everyone needs a defense but I don't have the disposition for that work. Me? I like helping the maritime worker and the seaman in pursuit of their rig...

A Taiwanese citizen sued the U.S.A. for killing her husband and sinking his fishing vessel in connection with a NATO counter-piracy initiative. That is, her husband was a hostage aboard his vessel which had been overrun by pirates when in the midst of an engagement with NATO forces he was killed...

This is a legal update from the bridge of Fulweiler llc. Lots of marine businesses include language in their maritime contracts stating "the general maritime law of the United States" applies to any disputes. A recent decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that in a particular di...

"Sue the cruise line," is what he says craning forward to chomp on something while pressing a cocktail against his chest. "Going out in weather like that. What? There's something like 4000 passengers on that thing, right? Class action is what you need to file." I nod in sage approval of the advi...

Sickened by dispersants used in the Deepwater Horizon clean-up? A February 16th ruling from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana probably just cut off your rights of recovery. In 32 pages of legal decision, the Court addressed the corporate defendants' argument that they shou...

Justice Scalia. Not sure I'm a fan of his reading the Constitution in an original textual context. Scalia's approach seems to encourage the devoted to give Deuteronomy a literal read! Anyway, I gunkholed my way through the admiralty law decisions Scalia was involved and here's a very slim review...

As a maritime lawyer with some fifteen years of water under my keel and another ten or so as a licensed captain, I'm always struck with the oddity of the tyranny that is shipyard life. The captain is king, overseer, parent and dictator. “Next after God,” is the old rubric and the word from the w...