Arsenault is among a group of attorneys who have been working with claims administrator, Kennth Feinberg, and the unprecedented $20 billion Gulf Coast Claims Facility set up by BP and the Obama administration.  This avenue may offer faster compensation, but it may also mean waiving your right to sue BP.  Arsenault is explaining these options to his clients in this “already extraordinary case.”

Read the article here.

Since then, the Interior Department has stopped approving any new drilling permits and suspended drilling at 33 wells already exploring for oil in the gulf. The government has said it needs time to do a thorough safety evaluation to ensure that disasters like BP’s blast don’t happen again. But Hornbeck Offshore Services, an oil services company based in Louisiana, filed a lawsuit challenging the moratorium. It argues that there’s no evidence that continued drilling poses any threat of future oil spills, and that halting such operations could cost Louisiana thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in lost wages. The lawsuit is backed by oil companies, Louisiana’s governor and other state officials.

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman heard testimony from both sides in a two-hour hearing on Monday. He ruled that the Interior Department failed to give adequate reasoning for the moratorium, according to the AP, saying the department assumes that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deep-water drilling are an imminent danger.

“The safeguards and regulations in place on April 20 did not create a sufficient margin of safety,” Justice Department stated at the hearing Monday.

Asked by Feldman why the U.S. government didn’t implement a similar moratorium after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, the Government called the Deepwater Horizon blowout a “game changer.”

At the convention, Arsenault will also chair two other programs 1. Recent Tort and Maritime Developments and 2. The Gulf Coast Oil Spill Litigation.

Last month, Arsenault and Galligan co-chaired the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Gulf Coast Oil Spill Litigation Conference in New Orleans, which attracted hundreds of attorneys from across the country as well as members of Bloomberg Business Week and the Wall Street Journal.

Later this month, Arsenault will serve as Chair of the HarrisMartin Publishing’s Oil Spill Symposium in New Orleans. In addition, he was recently named Co-chair of the American Association for Justice’s Gulf Oil Spill Litigation Group, where he will lead educational programs and provide litigation support to attorneys who represent victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The Litigation Group will hold its first meeting at the AAJ Annual Convention in Vancouver, British Columbia this July.

With a diverse career spanning three decades, Richard Arsenault is recognized as a leading lawyer in the areas of maritime law, serious personal injury and mass tort/complex litigation. He is a frequent speaker and has published numerous articles on various legal topics. Because of his unique experiences and expertise, Arsenault has been featured by the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reuters, NPR, CBS, BBC and other major media.

Congressional investigators have found that the BOP suffered from leaking hydraulic fluid, a dead battery and an inadequate design. “The answer is no,” Salazar said in response to a pointed question from about the government standards on the device. “I think there is additional work that should have been done on blowout preventers.”

Blowout preventers are massive devices that sit at the top of a well and are designed to slam pipes shut in the event of an emergency. However, they cannot shear thick sections of pipe.

A House investigation found last week that the device on the Deepwater Horizon suffered from multiple problems that may have prevented it from working correctly a mile beneath the Gulf. The U.S. Government is now a defendant in the oil spill litigation. The National Law Journal reports, “As lawsuits over the BP oil spill mount, a group of conservationists and fishermen have a new target: the US Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service. A lawsuit has been filed in federal court against the federal agency.

The suit — Gulf Restoration Network and Sierra Club v. Salazar — charges that the agency violated federal law by exempting oil companies that drill in the Gulf of Mexico from disclosing blowout and worst-case spill scenarios as well as plans for dealing with them before approving the companies’ offshore drilling plans.

The cause of the fire has not been determined but an investigation will be carried out according to the Coast Guard . The Coast Guard advised that four helicopters, four boats and a plane were helping in the search. This tragic accident reminds us of the dangers that offshore workers face every day as they work providing us with energy-producing oil and gas.

We pray for the workers and their families, especially for those who have been injured, and we pray that the missing workers are safe and soon located.

Today, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision holding that punitive damages have long been an accepted remedy under general maritime law, and that punitive damages for the willful and wanton disregard of the maintenance and cure obligation remain available as a matter of general maritime law.  The maintenance and cure obligation dates back centuries as an aspect of general maritime law, and the failure of a seaman’s employers to provide adequate medical care  was the basis for awarding punitive damages in cases decided in the 1800′s.

The Supreme Court has since registered its agreement with such decisions and has subsequently found that in addition to wages, “maintenance” includes food and lodging at the ship’s expense and “cure” refers to medical treatment.  Miles v. Apex Maine Corp, 498 U.S. 19 does not require eliminating the general maritime remedy of punitive damages for the willful or wanton failure to comply with the duty to pay maintenance and cure.

In July 2005, Edgar Townsend was injured while working aboard the tugboat Thomas.  His employer, Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc., sought declaratory judgment in a Federal District Court to determine its obligations toward him.  Townsend counter-claimed in part, alleging arbitrary and willful failure to pay maintenance and cure for his injuries, and sought punitive damages.  The District Court denied the Motion to Dismiss the punitive damage claim.  The United States Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit affirmed.     The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Atlantic Sounding v. Townsend that an injured seaman may recover punitive damages for the willful failure of his employer to pay “maintenance” and “cure”.  Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, And Breyer,JJ, Joined.  Alito, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Roberts, C.J., and Scalia and Kennedy, JJ.,  Joined.

Five men who planned to take part in a weekend fishing tournament died when their 24-foot aluminum boat ran under one end of a barge, Louisiana officials said. Three were from the Houston area.

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Capt. Samuel Martin said the boat hit the moored barge late Wednesday but wasn’t discovered until Thursday morning. He said the men apparently hit their heads on the barge’s slanting underside.

A worker spotted the accident scene Thursday morning when he saw one of the victim’s bodies on the barge. The victims 24-foot boat smashed into the barge…. The men were last seen leaving Dulac around 10 p.m. Wednesday night. Investigators said the barge had some lights on it, but they are investigating to determine how many.

The crash happened about 60 miles southwest of New Orleans on the Falgout Canal between Theriot and Dulac . The barge was being used by a crew stabilizing the bank…

Could this tragic accident have been avoided? My heart goes out to the families of those lost in this horrible accident. When commercial industry comes in contact with recreation safety precautions must be taken. Did the barge owners follow the simple navigation rules required when moored in the middle of a waterway? Three lights are required on the back of this barge, red, green and white. Red on the side closest to the bank which means don’t pass on this side, white in the middle and green on the side you are allowed to pass on. Were these rules followed? If so, were they checked for brightness or battery power? Maritime law allows for compensation to the families of the victims. Let’s hope the barge owner comes forward and does the right thing.

Tort System as Regulator

We were pleased to see Forbes’ recognition of the tort system’s role in, shall we say, motivating wayward food companies to clean up their act and take responsibility for providing safe food. A closer look at the tort system’s “secondary regulatory function” reveals that foodborne illness litigation often serves as a de facto primary regulator, taking up the slack where governmental agencies may fail. In the absence of adequate federal regulatory resources, we’re fortunate to have a legal system that can act in tandem with and serve as the final safety net for consumers.

Cooperation is a Key to the Tort System’s Success

The tort system is only as effective as the attorneys working within it. Without the continued support of its seasoned professionals, as well as the fresh energy of new recruits, the system suffers. The very title of Baldwin’s Forbes article states it perfectly: “Needed: Tort Lawyers.” Those lawyers should make it a priority to nourish the system…that means share, teach, coordinate, network, encourage, inspire, and respect each other. All of that, in an atmosphere of civility and professionalism. We’re all in this “food fight” together.

My Contribution

So what are experienced tort lawyers doing – and more specifically, what am I doing – to help educate, train, and share information with other lawyers so we can keep the tort system and its regulatory function alive and well? First a little background. My foray into food and water borne illness litigation began over 20 years ago when I represented the family of an offshore worker who died as a result of an ingested pathogen that was alleged to have come from a contaminated water source on the drilling rig aboard which he worked. Since that time, our firm has helped thousands of people with problems associated with food and water borne illness. Over the course of several decades, we have handled a wide variety of such cases, including most recently hundreds of cases associated with the ConAgra peanut butter outbreak, fast food restaurant contamination, contaminated ground water involving thousands of residents, foreign matter in packaged products, and more. We are also currently representing hundreds of farmers in Multidistrict Federal litigation involving genetically modified rice.

Over the last 3 decades, I’ve prepared over 250 speeches and articles. I teach at Law Schools and Judicial Colleges.  I’ve been the president of our local Bar Association and the local chapter of the American Inns of Court. I’ve been recognized by the likes of Martindale Hubel (AV rating), the Best Lawyers of America, the Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys, Super Lawyers, Best in the United States, and the National Law Journal for achieving one of the nation’s largest verdicts.

And what about now?  What am I currently doing? Here are a few examples:

• I will be speaking on Preemption in Minneapolis at a Federal Bar Association Symposium in June on a panel with academicians and a U.S. federal district court judge
• Trial Magazine will publish a Daubert article I co-authored in July
• I will be serving as a faculty member for the LSU Law Center’s Trial Advocacy Program in the fall, a program I’ve been part of since its inception over 15 years ago
• I am working on a peer reviewed article regarding food safety and foodborne illness litigation
• I’ll be on a continuing legal education panel this summer with the former dean of the LSU Law School and two Federal Judges to discuss recent developments in tort law
• I will be Chairing an Admiralty Symposium and a Mass Tort symposium in the fall
• I am contributing a chapter on the Multidistrict Litigation to a book (Treatise on Class Actions) that will be published by the American Bar Association

But Enough About Me…

And what of all this? Let me be the first to say it:

So what? Big deal.

There are many lawyers who quietly do the same and have achieved similar recognition. And that’s precisely my point: it’s not about big names, honors, or an egotistical sense of accomplishment. What matters is that these efforts translate into benefits for victims and a safer environment for everyone.

The Future of Foodborne Illness Tort Law

As a seasoned attorney with proven experience in many areas of tort law including the foodborne illness arena, I enjoy combining forces with colleagues to improve and strengthen the tort system. My clients — and the public — benefit from these collaborations. I encourage anyone who cares about the future of food safety to cooperate, coordinate, and communicate for the greater good of the tort system, our food system, and the future of public health.

Proper training and safety procedures are critical if we are to see any reduction in offshore accidents related to these functions. Often workers who survive loading accidents find themselves physically disabled and in need of long term care from accidents which could be prevented through proper training and the enforcement of standard safety protocols.

All of the victims were passengers on the powerboat; the tugboat was empty at the time. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be investigating this maritime collision. Interestingly, because of the serious injuries and fatalities, the NTSB is investigating this matter even though it typically does not review boating accidents. The investigations will review and consider numerous factors that may have caused the accident such as intoxication, lighting conditions and speed at the time the collision occurred. Hopefully they will get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later.

His lawsuit alleges that the company’s failure to provide a safe work environment resulted in his exposure to benzene and other hazardous and toxic chemicals which caused disabling injuries and disability. The complaint notes that Kirby Inland Marine failed to provide a respirator when the mechanic worked with dangerous chemicals and faults the company for not covering the medical expenses as required under the Jones Act

The S-92 failed an important test that requires a helicopter to be able to fly for thirty minutes without gearbox oil. Older helicopters can only fly for a few minutes without gearbox oil. The Federal Aviation Regulation(FAR) ,the European counterpart for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, passed the S-92 under a clause that allows an exemption if the failure is “ extremely remote”. The certification gives the pilots a false sense of security believing that the helicopter can run for thirty minutes without oil pressure. What ever the definition of “extremely remote” no exemptions should be allowed in obtaining an advanced certification. The FAR should immediately stop this practice and we should require all helicopters flown in our country be certified by the FAA.

The only evidence of a bird strike in this case however, was a loud noise heard in the cockpit followed by the loss of torque to both engines.

While I agree with Sikorsky to switch wind screens on their helicopters to heavier glass which is stronger, I can’t imagine that a bird strike caused two engines to instantly fail.

In due time, NTSB investigators and private experts will determine the cause of these crashes. The bird strike defense will be quickly forgotten.

Often times I do not know the answer to their problems, but I can and often do lead them in the right direction to get help. The one thing that frustrates me the most is when I hear that they have waited too long to bring a claim and the statute of limitations have passed.

In Louisiana, you generally have one year from the date of an auto accident to bring a claim. There are different time periods for a Jones Act claim, medical malpractice claim, Federal Tort claim, workers compensation claim and they all have differing exceptions to them. That’s why it would be best to contact a lawyer to have them explain them to you, especially a lawyer that would not charge for this simple service.