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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...

Like many things associated with the maritime law, the statute of limitations (that period of time within which you must bring your claim) for maritime personal injury and death claims is specially regulated by federal law. You can find that law by using an internet search engine to search for “...

Defense attorneys trying to protect an insurer's deep pockets will sometimes "remove" a case from state court to federal. This "removal" is a legal mechanism that when pulled allows a defendant to move a lawsuit into federal court provided there's a basis for the suit to be in federal court. In ...

In a recent decision from the First Circuit Court of Appeals (essentially the federal appellate court for New England) the doctrine of Uberrimae Fidei was held to be an important part of the maritime law. This doctrine of good faith allows a marine insurer to declare its policy void from incepti...

If you're a crewmember aboard a vessel, new changes to the ISM Code could prove beneficial. The ISM Code is short for the International Safety Management Code. The goals of the ISM Code are many and include ensuring safety at sea and the prevention of injury and loss of life. An amended paragrap...

If you ever need proof of the power of big money to influence legislation, there's hardly a better example than The Shipowner's Limitation of Liability Act, 46 U.S.C. 30501, et seq. Conceived to encourage investment in what had been a fledgling shipping industry, the Act allows a shipowner to se...

When you're injured on a boat in Rhode Island due to someone else's fault, you probably use a search engine like Google to find a boat lawyer. But be careful. Did this lawyer just put on his "sailor cap" or is he or she a maritime lawyer with real maritime experience? Does your lawyer know the b...

Read admiralty attorney John K. Fulweiler, Esq.'s newest article in WindCheck Magazine by clicking HERE. Remember, Fulweiler llc is a maritime law firm through and through. We don't represent insurers and we don't dabble in other legal areas. We are maritime and admiralty legal counsel. Our Mr...

Crewmembers are wards of the admiralty court. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. For instance, just a few years ago the 11th Circuit (which is always knee-deep in admiralty issues) said that commercial seamen are treated as wards of the court because they are vulnerable to exploitation by th...

Maritime Arbitration: 9 U.S. Code § 5 - Appointment of arbitrators or umpire Did you know that when the other side in a maritime arbitration won't appoint an arbitrator, the Court can do it for them? You see, the United States' Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. §§ 1-16) is sort of like carbon ...

I sometimes envy the medical profession. For the most part, under a doctor's care you're healed or you die within a relatively short time, and the doctor moves on to his next dance partner. With the legal profession, well, litigation takes a long time and so a single lawsuit may outlive an attor...