Subcontractor’s Insurer Owes Duty To Defend Contractor For Liability Suits Arising From Fatal Fireworks Explosion
Posted on Aug 28, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Litigation | Comments Off on Subcontractor’s Insurer Owes Duty To Defend Contractor For Liability Suits Arising From Fatal Fireworks Explosion
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...
OSHA Violations Against Rail Car Cleaning Contractor At Chemical Plant Upheld By Fifth Circuit
Posted on Aug 27, 2014 in OSHA, Transportation | Comments Off on OSHA Violations Against Rail Car Cleaning Contractor At Chemical Plant Upheld By Fifth Circuit
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...
Six-Year Hiatus Enough Of A Break To Require Separate Evaluation Of Duties For Jones Act Seaman Status
Posted on Aug 26, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, OSHA, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Six-Year Hiatus Enough Of A Break To Require Separate Evaluation Of Duties For Jones Act Seaman Status
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...
Brand-Name Drug Manufacturer Liable For Personal Injuries Caused By Generic Drugs Manufactured By Different Company In Alabama
Posted on Aug 25, 2014 in Construction, Product Liability | Comments Off on Brand-Name Drug Manufacturer Liable For Personal Injuries Caused By Generic Drugs Manufactured By Different Company In Alabama
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...
Coast Guard Proposes Inflation Increases To OPA Liability Limits
Posted on Aug 24, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Coast Guard Proposes Inflation Increases To OPA Liability Limits
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...
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