Alisha Lafleur v. M.A.R.S. Cleaning Services LLC

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE DIVISION

ALISHA LAFLEUR CASE NO. 6:26-CV-00311 VERSUS JUDGE ROBERT R. SUMMERHAYS M ARS CLEANING SERVICES LLC MAGISTRATE JUDGE WHITEHURST

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT Before the Court is Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst’s Report and Recommendation [ECF No. 15] and the objections filed thereto [ECF No. 16]. For the reasons set forth below, the Court overrules the objections to and adopts the Report and Recommendation. M.A.R.S. Cleaning Services, LLC (“M.A.R.S. Cleaning”) objects to the Report’s application of the two-prong OCSLA jurisdictional test set forth in Deepwater Horizon, arguing that it fails to specify which prong of the test is not met. The first prong of the Deepwater Horizon test requires courts to determine whether “the activities that caused the injury constituted an ‘operation’ ‘conducted on the outer Continental Shelf.’”! The second prong requires courts to determine whether “the case ‘arises out of, or in connection with’ the operation” under a “but-for” causation standard.” In the interest of clarity, the Court finds that the decommissioning of the oil and gas production platform located on the outer continental shelf (“OCS”) constitutes an “operation” conducted on the OCS under prong one.’ As to the second prong, the Report sufficiently analyzes

' In re Deepwater Horizon, 745 F.3d 157, 163 (5th Cir. 2014) (quoting EP Operating Ltd. P ship v. Placid oil Co., 26 F.3d 563, 569 (Sth Cir. 1994)). 3 See EPL Oil & Gas, LLC v. Trimont Energy (NOW), LLC, 640 F. Supp. 3d 687, 693 (E.D. Tex. 2022) (“[T]he abandonment or decommissioning of wells on the OCS is an ‘operation’ under OCSLA.”).

the connection between the alleged injury and the operation conducted on the OCS, finding the connection to be too attenuated. The Court agrees. As explained in the Report, the “but-for” causation standard cannot be without limits. The M.A.R.S. tugboat towed a barge through the Atchafalaya River to an offshore buoy, where the barge was picked up by a separate vessel and brought to the OCS platform for decommissioning work. The M.A.R.S. tugboat allegedly dropped a rope in the Atchafalaya River on this voyage that later caused the alleged injury. A rope dropped by a tugboat in the Atchafalaya River is too far removed from the decommissioning work performed on the OCS. The remainder of the objections submitted by M.A.R.S. Cleaning are overruled. For the reasons set forth above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, consistent with the report and recommendation, Plaintiff's Motion to Remand [ECF No. 9] is GRANTED and Plaintiffs request for attorney’s fees [ECF No. 9] is DENIED. THUS DONE in Chambers on this of of August, 2026.

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