Transportation & Energy Issues

The Journal’s Sea Change

I write to compliment you on your excellent article on the Alaska fishing industry and its accident record, “The Cemetery Sea,” May. The extensive research writer Lynda Edwards did made your article informative, interesting and readable.

Your article far exceeded the usual ABA Journal articles, which lack depth and background research, and end up having little that is informative, interesting or worth the time to read. Please pass on to the editors these comments from a 40-year member of the ABA.

Roger V. Stageberg

Minneapolis

Jul 2, 2009 4:00 AM CDT

Makin’ ‘em Walk the Plank

Today’s pirates have more legal power than those of yesteryear

Jul 2, 2009 2:40 AM CDT

Financier Allen Stanford Hires Maritime Lawyers for Investment Fraud Case

Billionaire financier R. Allen Stanford has hired maritime lawyers to defend him on civil charges of running an $8 billion investment fraud. Stanford has hired lawyers from the Gulf Law Group in Washington, D.C., to help defend him on civil fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, reports…

Jun 9, 2009 12:19 PM CDT

PI Attorneys Sue Google Over ‘Adwords’ Sale of Law Firm Name to Competitor

Two Connecticut personal injury lawyers are suing Google, contending that the Internet search engine improperly sold advertising rights concerning their law firm name to a competitor. When Internet users type Stratton Faxon into the Google search engine, say plaintiffs Michael Stratton and Joel Faxon in the New Haven Superior Court…

May 27, 2009 10:01 PM CDT

The Cemetery Sea

A shipwreck, a mysterious owner and a 158-year-old maritime law

May 2, 2009 4:50 AM CDT

Crewman Sues Over Ship Safety in High-Profile Piracy Case

His ship’s high-profile story had a relatively happy ending, except for the alleged pirates accused of taking the American captain hostage near Somalia. But the chief steward has nonetheless filed suit in Harris County, Texas, contending that the owners of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama freighter didn’t do enough to keep…

Apr 27, 2009 11:39 PM CDT

New ‘Hague’ for Pirates Might Be Kenya

The high-profile rescue this week by the U.S. Navy of an American cargo ship captain reportedly being held hostage by pirates from Somalia has put a hitherto little-known legal issue in the spotlight. Pirates on the high seas are so rarely tried for the crime that no one is sure…

Apr 15, 2009 12:07 AM CDT

Judge Orders Lawyers to Return $450K in Fees

A retired South Florida cruise ship injury lawyer and his former associate were ordered to return nearly $450,000 in fees collected under a secret deal after the injury lawyer withdrew from a series of personal injury cases. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Herbert Stettin, who supervised Jay Wingate’s withdrawal amid bribery allegations,…

Apr 2, 2009 10:04 AM CDT

Feds Seize Madoff’s Yacht, as Owners of Less Expensive Watercraft Abandon Ship

As federal agents today seized a 55-foot yacht owned by convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, other owners of less expensive watercraft reportedly are abandoning ship on boats they can no longer afford to maintain. The yacht, described as a beautifully maintained custom-built antique by the owner of the South Florida…

Apr 1, 2009 10:37 PM CDT

US Judge Poised to Decide Fate of Titanic’s Treasures

A federal maritime judge in Norfolk, Va., is set to issue a key ruling involving the historic salvage of artifacts from the century-old sinking of the Titanic. At issue is ownership of the artifacts. RMS Titanic Inc., the salvage company that has completed six dives to the Titanic since it…

Mar 25, 2009 5:00 PM CDT

Pirate Attacks Keep Law Firm’s Hotline Ringing Off the Hook

What do you do when an oil tanker you own carrying cargo worth more than $100 million is hijacked by pirates on the high seas? You call your lawyer, of course. And such calls to a 24-hour hotline maintained by Holman Fenwick Willan, a London law firm specializing in maritime…

Dec 10, 2008 9:09 PM CST

Spain Claims US ‘Pirates’ Stole Sunken Treasure from Underseas Galleon

A federal court ruling against a Florida-based deep-sea exploration company last month apparently has led to a claim by the Spanish government. It contends that Odyssey Marine Exploration “pirates” stole underseas treasure from a Spanish warship sunk by the British navy off the coast of Portugal in 1804 with some…

May 9, 2008 10:02 PM CDT

Calif. Boater and Attorney Sues Over Ethanol-Laced Fuel

Until it did $35,000 worth of damage to his boat, Lawrence Turner says, he had no idea that the ethanol-laced fuel sold at California marinas could erode fiberglass fuel tanks. And, he suspects, he’s not the only unwary boat owner who suffered such harm. So the 50-year-old attorney, who is…

Apr 15, 2008 9:30 PM CDT

Titanic Sank Due to Bad Rivets, Book Says

It’s too late to make the case for extra damages for some 1,500 people who died when the Titantic sank 96 years ago, just before midnight on April 14, 1912. But a scientific investigative team reports in a new book that they know why the ship sank so disastrously, after…

Apr 14, 2008 11:15 PM CDT

Lawyer’s Death After Shark Bite Ignites Legal Debate

The death last week of an Austrian attorney who was bitten by a shark has sparked a debate about cageless shark diving. The practice, which involves baiting the waters with chum to attract sharks, is illegal in the United States but permitted in the Bahamas, where Markus Groh was headed…

Mar 3, 2008 4:37 PM CST