The Cargo Letter

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OUR "E" Section: The Forwarder Broker World


8. New U.S. Transport Related Legal Cases

United States v. Tucor Int'l, Inc.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
January 25, 2001
Government Regulation/Criminal Law: defendants were engaged in the business of motor transport within the Philippines and trucked the belongings of United States military from Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Force Base to a Philippine seaport, where the belongings were loaded onto vessels bound for the United States; the United States Dept. of Justice was in error in prosecuting defendants for a conspiracy to fix prices for the ground transportation in the Philippines since they were immunized against antitrust liability by Section 7(a)(4) of the Shipping Act of 1984, 46 U.S.C. app. 1706(a)(4); the Department's criminal prosecution of defendants, although based on an unreasonable reading of the law and "faulty judgment" in not informing the District Court of the Shipping Act's immunity provisions, was not "vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith," thus defendants were not entitled to reimbursement of their attorneys
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/circt/9thtucor.html

Shell Offshore v. Babbitt
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Jan. 12, 2001
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act ("OCSLA"): The denial of Shell's request to use its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) tariff rate as the cost of transporting crude oil produced from certain of Shell's offshore oil & gas leases for purposes of calculating Shell's royalty payments due the Interior Department was in essence the application of a new substantive rule that required notice & comment before implementation, thus Shell was entitled to use the FERC tariff rate to calculate transport costs for all of the offshore oil at issue.
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/circt/5thshelloffshore.html

Morris v. Princess Cruises
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Jan. 10, 2001
Procedure/Admiralty Jurisdiction: removal of the case from state to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)(1) was proper since the only non-diverse defendant had been fraudulently joined; plaintiff's subsequent joinder of the non-diverse Insurers thereupon defeated the court's diversity jurisdiction, but because the district court would have had original admiralty jurisdiction over this action had plaintiff filed suit in federal court in the first instance, her failure to move for remand upon joining the non-diverse defendants waived any possible objection to removal jurisdiction;

Maritime Torts: plaintiff's tort claims arising from the admittedly harrowing experience suffered in Bombay after her husband had been medically evacuated from the cruise vessel were properly dismissed since plaintiff failed to adduce any evidence suggesting that any possible breach of duty on the part of Princess Cruises caused harm to plaintiff or her husband.
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/9th(9955092).html

In re Bluewater Network & Ocean Advocates
District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals
Dec. 22, 2000
Coast Guard Regulation/OPA 90: sections 4110(a) and (b) of OPA 90 indisputably command the Coast Guard to establish compliance standards and use requirements for tank level & pressure monitoring ("TLPM") devices by Aug. 1991; because of this "clear statutory mandate, a deadline nine-years ignored, and an agency that has admitted its continuing recalcitrance," the Coast Guard was directed to undertake prompt rulemaking with respect to TLPM devices; the Coast Guard is not required to initiate rulemaking pursuant to section 4116(c) of OPA 90 to define waters other than Prince William Sound ("other waters") over which single-hulled tankers must be escorted by at least 2 towing vessels since the section places no clear and mandatory duty on the Coast Guard to undertake "other waters" rulemaking.
http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/circt/dcinrebluewater.html

Tokio Marine & Fire v. M/V FLORA
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Jan. 3, 2001
Collisions/Casualties: the District Court was not clearly erroneous in finding as a matter of fact that outbound vessel's violation of COLREG Rule 5 (failure to have a proper look-out) was only a relatively small contributory cause of the collision at the Southwest Pass; the Pennsylvania Rule does not apply to violations of Rule 8(c) (alteration of course to avoid a close-quarters situation) since its provisions do not impose a "precise and clearly defined duty"; appellant inbound vessel did not prove at trial that there was a local custom in the Southwest Pass that outbound vessels must take extra care when leaving the area to avoid a collision, and inbound vessels have the right of way;

Comparative Fault: the District Court's finding that the inbound vessel was 80% at fault and the outbound vessel was 20% at fault was not clearly erroneous in view of the evidence presented as to the causes of the collision, including a finding that theÊ overwhelming percentage of the collision was caused by inbound vessel's violation of the port-to-port passing agreement and the lack of communication with the outbound vessel.

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Written from wire stories, the Associated Press, Reuters, Hong Kong Shipping News Lloyds & other world sources.