Transportation (Litigation)

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• Representation for litigation involving aviation, maritime, railroad and surface transportation issues, such as: administrative actions; ageism; alternate dispute resolution (ADR); antitrust; arbitration; asbestos; aviation-specific accidents (such as may be caused by: defective instruments; engine failure; equipment failure; explosions; hijackings; incorrect takeoff and landing instructions; pilot error; taxiway collisions); bad faith litigation claims; bid disputes; breach of contract; breach of financing; breach of joint venture; breach of lease; breach of loan; breach of partnership; breach of purchase; breach of sale; breach of strategic alliance; breach of voting trust; cargo damage claims; Carmack Amendment (providing that under Federal preemption theory, a carrier may be able to avoid altogether or at least severely limit liability under certain state law plaintiff claims against carriers, such as bad faith, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, negligence, punitive damages, or violations of deceptive trade laws); carrier defenses and exceptions to liability to shippers (such as for: acts by a public enemy; acts by the shipper; acts of God; authority of law; the inherent danger, evil or vice of the goods provided by the shipper); catastrophic injury; claims management; class actions; collections; commercial driver license (CDL) violations; compliance violations; contribution and indemnification; COVID-19 safety; Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) claims; delivery delays; design defects; discrimination; drug testing; eminent domain; employee benefits; Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); employer suppression of unions; employment contracts; environmental; Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enforcement actions; Federal Employer Liability Act (FELA); harassment; hiring practices; hours of service violations; independent contractors; independent liability; industry-specific discovery and due diligence; insurance coverages (such as involving insurer liability under an MCS-90 endorsement for motor carrier coverage); intellectual property (IP); Jones Act claims; license violations; limitation of liability; Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA) claims; mediation; maintenance failures; mesothelioma; National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) enforcement actions; negligent entrustment; Oil Pollution Act (OPA) claims; operator (aircraft pilot, ship pilot, train engineer, vehicle driver) distraction (such as using personal electronic devices while operating) or fatigue; operator screening failures; Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) (for offshore workers, such as on oil rigs); oversize violations; overweight violations; permit violations; personal injury; premises liability; product liability; property damage; racism; railroad-specific accidents (such as may be caused by: brake failures; defective signal lights; derailments; environmental spills; head-on collisions; railroad crossing accidents; tip-overs; track defects; unsecured cargo); regulatory violations; reinsurance; right-to-work; Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions; sexism; subrogation; third-party defendants in states allowing contribution or indemnity claims against employers; torts; toxic torts; transportation settlement agreements (for condemnation or inverse condemnation situations); trespassers; truck-specific accidents (such as may be caused by: brake failures; environmental spills; head-on collisions; jack-knifes; rollovers; tire blowouts; underrides; unsecured cargo; wide turns); Truth In Leasing Act (TILA) claims; union oppression against employers; vehicle defects; vessel-specific accidents (such as may be caused by: allisions; capsizings; collisions; engine failures; environmental spills; explosions; groundings; negligent operations; piracy; sinkings; unsecured cargo); vicarious liability; wage and hour; workers’ compensation; wrongful death.

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• Experience with commercial litigation related to numerous types of industrial accident issues.

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• Experience with insurance claims, such as first-party insurance claims (for individual insurance directly from an insurer, such as business interruption or commercial property insurance, that may involve bad faith allegations, such as attempting to settle for an unrealistically-low amount, blaming the loss on events other than the actual cause, denying the claim altogether, failing to perform an adequate investigation, intentional misinterpretation of the contract language against the claimant, prolonging the claims process unnecessarily, threatening to drop the claimant’s coverage if they continue the claim, unnecessarily delaying payment of claims, wrongfully claiming your loss is not covered), general claims (between an individual or multiple claimants against one or more insurers, such as for denial or undervaluing a claim), health insurance claims (between an individual and a health insurer), natural disaster claims (generally involving catastrophic property loss by an individual or business due to extreme climate or weather conditions, such as earthquakes, floods, hail, hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, wildfires, winds) and Workers’ compensation claims (for workplace injuries sustained on the job, such as a concussion or contusion, or the loss of a limb due to operating machinery, or due to mere presence on the job over an extended period of time, such as mesothelioma form unknown exposure to asbestos); familiarity with long-term injuries and next-generation injuries (such as birth defects), caused by daily exposure to hazardous fumes emanating from a nearby plant (such as a concrete plant, chemical plant) or refinery, or contamination of the groundwater, or through various activities (such as asbestos remediation or welding).

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• Litigation support for many types of personal injury accident litigations (generally in the context of industrial accidents), such as: arc flash accidents; aviation accidents; construction accidents; defective products accidents; drilling and environmental accidents; harbor accidents; heavy machinery accidents; marine accidents; mine accidents; motor vehicle (cars or trucks) accidents; offshore accidents; oil rig accidents; plant and refinery accidents and explosions; premises liability accidents; railroad accidents; trenching accidents; turnaround period accidents; warehouse accidents.

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• Management and selection of subject matter experts (SMEs) in specialized fields, such as: accident investigation; accident reconstruction; airplane behavior, characteristics, design, production and specifications; biomechanics; contingent cargo insurance (available to brokers); damages; environmental regulations; Federal and state transportation regulations; human behavior; indemnification; insurance coverages; medical injuries and treatments; primary cargo insurance (required for freight forwarders); psychological treatments; railroad behavior, characteristics, design, production and specifications; ship behavior, building, characteristics, design and specifications; vehicular behavior, characteristics, design, production and specifications; subrogation; surety.

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• Legal support for actions involving possible violations of personally-identifiable information (PII) through the collection of passenger name records (PNR) by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), under the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Secure Flight Program (SFP) (49 CFR Parts 1540 and 1560), and pursuant to the Passenger Name Record Agreement (PNRA) covering passengers traveling between the US and the European Union (EU).

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• Legal support for actions pursuant to the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Equipment Protocol Article XIV(3), to which the US is a signatory, aircraft engines are treated as distinct and separate objects from the airplane airframe, thus allowing an engine to be removed from an aircraft for garnishment and repossession due to unpaid debts by the aircraft owner, depending on any apparent conflicts with the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), as may be determined by the applicable US court of competent jurisdiction after consulting the US Declaration to the Cape Town Convention (in which the US clarified that the US gives weight to all applicable US and state laws regarding non-consensual liens).

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• Legal support for aviation passenger rights issues.

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• Legal support for evidence preservation and on-site investigations.

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• Provided litigation practice legal training for management and personnel.

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• Working knowledge of the proper usage of the Incoterms maintained by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), such as: the seven (7) Incoterms applied to all modes of transport – CIP (meaning ”Carriage and Insurance Paid To”) [then insert place of destination]; CPT (meaning “Carriage Paid To”) [then insert place of destination]; DAP (meaning “Delivered at Place”) [then insert place of destination]; DDP (meaning “Delivered Duty Paid”) [then insert place of destination]; DPU (meaning “Delivered at Place Unloaded”) [then insert place of destination]; EXW (meaning “Ex Works”) [then insert place of delivery]; FCA (meaning “Free Carrier”) [then insert place of delivery]; and, the four (4) Incoterms applied to inland waterway and ocean transport – CIF (meaning “Cost Insurance and Freight”) [then insert named port of destination]; CFR (meaning “Cost and Freight”) [then insert named port of destination) FAS (meaning “Free Alongside Ship”) [then insert named port of loading]; FOB (meaning “Free on Board”) [then insert named port of loading].

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• Working knowledge of various specialized aviation insurance coverages, such as: air transit; aircraft charter; combined single limit; corporate jet owners and operators; fixed-base operators (FBOs); fleet owners and operators; ground risk hull (motion); ground risk hull (non-motion); helicopter owners and operators; in-flight; non-owned aircraft; passenger liability; private use owners and operators; public liability; turbo-prop owners and operators.

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    PROGRESS DRAFT - Last updated 210521_2248