New Jersey Federal Court Denies Request For Class Certification In Train Derailment Case
Posted on Sep 2, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey denied a request for class certification for individuals and business who suffered economic losses as a result of a train derailment that resulted in the release of toxic chemicals. The plaintiffs in the case moved to certify two putative economic loss classes: (1) individuals who resided within the evacuation zone and had incurred unreimbursed non-medical expenses as a result of the derailment; and (2) individuals and businesses residing in a set geographic area who incurred income losses as a result of the derailment (with individuals...
Continue Reading
Subcontractor’s Insurer Owes Duty To Defend Contractor For Liability Suits Arising From Fatal Fireworks Explosion
Posted on Aug 28, 2014
Company A had a contract with the federal government to destroy seized fireworks and hired Company B to actually destroy them. While Company B was in the process of destroying the fireworks, an explosion occurred that killed five Company B employees. Multiple liability suits followed. Company A’s insurer has paid more than $1.5 million in defense of the liability suits and brought suit alleging that Company B’s insurer owed a duty to defend Company A from the liability suits (Company B could not be sued directly because of workers’ compensation protection). Company A’s insurer claimed...
Continue Reading
OSHA Violations Against Rail Car Cleaning Contractor At Chemical Plant Upheld By Fifth Circuit
Posted on Aug 27, 2014
Following the death of a worker at a Texas chemical plant, OSHA investigated and issued multiple citations to the worker’s employer, a subcontractor at the plant that performed a variety of services including maintenance, capital and warehouse work, and rail car cleaning. The incident in question involved the rail car cleaning process. The worker died from asphyxiation when he lowered himself, without a confined space permit, into a rail car containing hydrogen sulfide that yet to be cleaned. An ALJ upheld two of the citations: failure to identify and evaluate respiratory hazards in the...
Continue Reading
Six-Year Hiatus Enough Of A Break To Require Separate Evaluation Of Duties For Jones Act Seaman Status
Posted on Aug 26, 2014
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana held yesterday that a pipeline coating technician who was injured aboard a vessel involved in laying pipeline underneath the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain was a “seaman” for Jones Act purposes. The court rejected the employer’s argument that the worker was not a seaman for failing to meet the Jones Act’s temporal requirement. In Chandris v. Latsis, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that seaman status requires 1) that the employee’s duties contribute to the function of a vessel in navigation or to the accomplishment of its mission...
Continue Reading
Brand-Name Drug Manufacturer Liable For Personal Injuries Caused By Generic Drugs Manufactured By Different Company In Alabama
Posted on Aug 25, 2014
The Supreme Court of Alabama held last week that under Alabama law, a brand-name drug company can be held liable for fraud or misrepresentation based on statements made in connection with the manufacture of a brand-name prescription drug by a plaintiff claiming physical injury cause by a generic drug manufactured by a different company. In an opinion that most would consider an outlier in this area of law, the court reasoned that it was not fundamentally unfair to hold the brand-name manufacturer liable in this situation because the alleged misrepresentations on the generic drugs were...
Continue Reading
Coast Guard Proposes Inflation Increases To OPA Liability Limits
Posted on Aug 24, 2014
The U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) last week to carry out inflation adjustments to the limits of liability under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2701, et seq. Under OPA, the responsible parties for any vessel (other than a public vessel) or facility (including any deepwater port or onshore facility) from which oil is discharged, or which poses a substantial threat of discharge of oil, into or upon the navigable waters or the adjoining shorelines or the exclusive economic zone of the United States, are strictly liable, jointly and severally, for...
Continue Reading
D.C. Circuit Upholds OSHA Citations For Lockout/Tagout Procedure Violations
Posted on Aug 23, 2014
After a service mechanic working for an elevator company injured his hand while unjamming a gate of a freight elevator at a customer’s facility, OSHA issued citations to the elevator company including for violating the safety standards relating to the control of hazardous energy. Following administrative challenges, the elevator company appealed to the D.C. Circuit, which denied the company’s petition to review OSHA’s citations. The company argued that OSHA’s lockout/tagout standards related to the control of hazardous energy did not apply because there was never an “unexpected” release of...
Continue Reading
FEATURED
The Crisis Response & Incident Investigation Team at Eversheds Sutherland has substantial experience in guiding companies through crises, big and small, in providing a coordinated response to help mitigate risk and liability. More>>