Ninth Circuit Finds Track Inspector’s Negligent Mismanagement Claims Not Preempted By Railway Labor Act
Posted on Apr 23, 2014 in Transportation, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Ninth Circuit Finds Track Inspector’s Negligent Mismanagement Claims Not Preempted By Railway Labor Act
The Ninth Circuit found that a railroad track inspector’s claims for negligent mismanagement against a railway company were not preempted by the Railway Labor Act. Plaintiff, a union member subject to a collective bargaining agreement, sued the company under Montana law after he was suspended without back pay following a collision incident. Plaintiff alleged that (1) the railway...
Wisconsin Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment for Union on Worker’s Breach of Duty of Fair Representation Claim Following Violation of Workplace Safety Rule
Posted on Apr 18, 2014 in Litigation, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Wisconsin Federal Court Grants Summary Judgment for Union on Worker’s Breach of Duty of Fair Representation Claim Following Violation of Workplace Safety Rule
While working in a plastics manufacturing plant, a worker violated a Task Safety Analysis rule requiring belly bands (or lifting straps) to be used when changing shafts as opposed to manually lifting them. The employer investigated the incident and terminated the worker because this was his second willful violation of a Task Safety Analysis rule at the plant and he had previously been...
“Paymaster” May Not Be Considered Rig Worker’s Employer In Context Of Vicarious Liability For Negligence Under General Maritime Law
Posted on Apr 3, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Litigation, OSHA, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on “Paymaster” May Not Be Considered Rig Worker’s Employer In Context Of Vicarious Liability For Negligence Under General Maritime Law
Confronted with an issue of first impression in the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana concluded that where a company serves only as a “paymaster,” that company cannot be considered a rig worker’s employer in the context of vicarious liability for negligence under general maritime law. The court granted summary judgment to the company serving...
District Courts Increasingly Reluctant To Grant Summary Judgment on Borrowed Servant Doctrine
Posted on Apr 1, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Litigation, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on District Courts Increasingly Reluctant To Grant Summary Judgment on Borrowed Servant Doctrine
Seven miles off the coast of Mobile, Alabama, a worker was injured when he fell from a pipe onto a natural gas platform while attempting to re-bolt a flange that was leaking flammable gas. Following the incident, the worker filed for and received workers’ compensation benefits under the Longshoreman and Harbor Worker Compensation Act. Employed by a services company, the worker...
BP Prior Incidents Again at Issue in Oil Spill Litigation
Posted on Mar 31, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Process Safety, Product Liability, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on BP Prior Incidents Again at Issue in Oil Spill Litigation
As we previously reported in “Be Prepared for the Inevitable ‘Process Safety’ Attack,” Corporate Counsel (Jan. 23, 2014), available here, the private plaintiffs in last year’s liability trial stemming from the 2010 Gulf oil spill were permitted to introduce evidence of some of BP’s most notable prior incidents through the opinion of a renowned process safety expert,...
Most of BSEE Accident Report Deemed Admissible in Worker Injury Case
Posted on Mar 31, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Investigations, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Most of BSEE Accident Report Deemed Admissible in Worker Injury Case
In litigation arising from a worker injury on an offshore platform allegedly caused by the bursting of a bladder of a potable water tank, the tank manufacturer sought a preliminary order declaring the BSEE accident investigation report and all of its attachments admissible pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8), the hearsay exception for public records. The U.S. District Court...
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