On October 19, 2016, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Guidry v. ABC Ins. Co., 2016-61 (La. App. 3 Cir. 10/19/16); — So. 3d — affirmed that a welder injured while assisting in the construction of a bulkhead in Grand Isle, LA was a seaman and that the floating mat on which
Western District of Louisiana to Test BSEE’s Authority to Issue INC’s to Offshore Contractors
Historically, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued Incidents of Non-Compliance (INC’s) to oil and gas lease holders on the Outer Continental Shelf for a variety of accidents, spills, and other incidents offshore. However, as a result of the events that led to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the subsequent investigation,
U.S. 5th Circuit: Plaintiffs Can Recover Only LHWCA Medical Benefits Paid, Not Billed
The U.S. 5th Circuit has finally weighed in on the application of the collateral source rule to Longshore benefits. Back in June, we discussed the latest case out of the EDLA discussing this issue. On November 17, 2016, the U.S. Fifth Circuit came to the same conclusion: a plaintiff may only recover the amount actually
Admiralty and Navigable Water Bodies – Not Just Jurisdictional Issues
As fundamental as the concept of jurisdiction might be, it is often assumed to exist and therefore glazed over in a plaintiff’s petition or a defendant’s notice of removal. But jurisdiction is one of the foundational elements upon which our judicial systems, both state and federal, are built. Thus, it is a necessary element of
EDLA Rules Plug and Abandon Contract is Maritime in Nature, Providing Indemnification to Platform Owner for Personal Injury Claims
In November 2016, the Eastern District of Louisiana again confronted the “marshland” involved in categorizing a contract as maritime or non-maritime. In In re: Crescent Energy Services, LLC, No. 15-819 (E.D. La. Nov. 7, 2016), the court held that a contract to plug and abandon a well in Louisiana waters was maritime in nature.
Decision on Fair Labor Standards Act Expected Next Week?
Could a decision on the challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor’s new salary basis rule be coming soon? Employment Law360, a national, daily legal news service, reported this morning that a Texas Federal Judge would decide by Tuesday, November 22, whether to stop the new overtime rules from taking effect on December 1.
The
California’s Prop 65 Labeling Requirement Is About to Get Even More Burdensome
Recently, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) in California finalized revisions to the regulations implementing Prop 65 – the California law that requires business to provide a “clear and reasonable warning” to consumers on products that contain any chemicals listed by California as causing cancer or reproductive harm.
NY DPS Staff Report on Value of DER
The New York Department of Public Service Staff released a complex report of recommendations to the New York Public Service Commission on how to properly value distributed energy resources (“DERs”) as the state transitions away from net energy metering (“NEM”). Reforms to NEM—which credits distributed generation at the retail rate of electricity—have been a controversial topic in numerous states as utilities warn of revenue losses and customer cross-subsidies caused by outdated rate designs that do not properly calculate the costs and benefits of NEM to the grid.
Fighting Climate Change, California Takes Action to Cut Emissions of Methane and other “Super Pollutants”
California is taking action to mitigate the climate change impacts of “super pollutants” – compounds such as methane, black carbon and HFC gasses that have a short lived but significant warming effect on the planet. Among the objectives of the new law concerning short-lived climate pollutants is a 40 percent reduction in the state’s methane
Illinois Federal Court Weighs in on the Scope of the Clean Water Act Maintenance Exemption
A federal district court for the Central District of Illinois issued an opinion interpreting the scope of the maintenance exemption to the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) prohibition of the discharge of dredge and fill material into waters of the United States. The case, Quad Cities Waterkeeper Inc. v. Ballegeer, Case No. 4:12-cv-4075, raised the