Maritime and Admiralty Litigation

As a leader in the field of admiralty and maritime litigation, Sally & Fitch LLP represents vessel owners and their insurers in the wide range of disputes that occur in the ocean transport industry. Our experience includes the defense of personal injury and wrongful death claims brought by or on behalf of seamen, longshoremen, and passengers; collisions, groundings and sinkings; cargo damage claims; fires in the holds of ships; dock damage allegedly caused by operational errors; vessel charter disputes; and even disputes over the rights to salvage sunken treasure. We also engage in maritime insurance coverage litigation. In addition, we represent utilities in maritime property damage matters, such as a recent case involving multi-million dollar damage to undersea cables caused by a ship's dragged anchor.

Examples from our Admiralty and Maritime Litigation Practice:

We defend the vessel owner members of protection and indemnity associations in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits brought against them by or on behalf of seamen, longshoremen/harbor workers, and passengers, as well as in cargo damage, pollution, and stowaway matters.

We successfully represented a foreign shipowner against a claim that its luxury liner caused property damage to a Boston port facility.

We defend operators of tugs and barges in claims involving collision damage to bridges, docks, and other vessels, as well as personal injury and wrongful death.

We obtained a multi-million dollar settlement for a utility client whose underwater cables were damaged by the dropped anchor of a cruise ship.

By means of in rem actions invoking the law of salvage and finds, we have obtained court orders permitting clients to attempt salvage of gold coins from a sunken passenger vessel and historical artifacts from a sunken German submarine. 

Contact:
James B. Re | Francis J. Sally