Nettie Lee Fontenot, Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross v. Nicklos Drilling Company, Unit Crane and Shovel Corporation, Defendant-Appellant-Cross

Fifth Circuit

Nettie Lee Fontenot, Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross v. Nicklos Drilling Company, Unit Crane and Shovel Corporation, Defendant-Appellant-Cross

429 F.2d 569

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

DecidedAugust 12, 1970

Docket28331_1

StatusPublished

Cited by3 cases

This text of 429 F.2d 569 (Nettie Lee Fontenot, Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross v. Nicklos Drilling Company, Unit Crane and Shovel Corporation, Defendant-Appellant-Cross) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Nettie Lee Fontenot, Plaintiffs-Appellees-Cross v. Nicklos Drilling Company, Unit Crane and Shovel Corporation, Defendant-Appellant-Cross, 429 F.2d 569 (5th Cir. 1970).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This case involves claims arising out of an accident on a stationary drilling platform off the coast of Louisiana. At the time of the trial this circuit followed the rule that the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 761 et seq., governed all claims arising out of an accident on one of these platforms. Rodrigue v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 5 Cir. 1968, 395 F.2d 216, 217; Dore v. Link Belt Co., 5 Cir. 1968, 391 F.2d 671. The trial court carefully followed this rule and permitted recovery under the terms of the Death on the High Seas Act.

After the trial and before this appeal, the United States Supreme Court rendered its opinion in Rodrigue v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 1969, 395 U.S. 352, 89 S.Ct. 1835, 23 L.Ed.2d 360, reversing this circuit and holding that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C.A. §§ 1331 et seq., governs all claims arising out of accidents of this sort on such offshore platforms. Under that Act federal law supplemented by the law of the adjacent state is applicable to such claims. It appears, therefore, that Louisiana law as provided in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act rather than the law provided in the Death on the High Seas Act should have been applied to the claims asserted in this case. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the trial court and remand for a new trial to be conducted in accordance with the Supreme Court’s opinion in Rodrigue.

Reversed and remanded.

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PER CURIAM:

This case involves claims arising out of an accident on a stationary drilling platform off the coast of Louisiana. At the time of the trial this circuit followed the rule that the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C.A. §§ 761 et seq., governed all claims arising out of an accident on one of these platforms. Rodrigue v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 5 Cir. 1968, 395 F.2d 216, 217; Dore v. Link Belt Co., 5 Cir. 1968, 391 F.2d 671. The trial court carefully followed this rule and permitted recovery under the terms of the Death on the High Seas Act.

After the trial and before this appeal, the United States Supreme Court rendered its opinion in Rodrigue v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 1969, 395 U.S. 352, 89 S.Ct. 1835, 23 L.Ed.2d 360, reversing this circuit and holding that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C.A. §§ 1331 et seq., governs all claims arising out of accidents of this sort on such offshore platforms. Under that Act federal law supplemented by the law of the adjacent state is applicable to such claims. It appears, therefore, that Louisiana law as provided in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act rather than the law provided in the Death on the High Seas Act should have been applied to the claims asserted in this case. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the trial court and remand for a new trial to be conducted in accordance with the Supreme Court’s opinion in Rodrigue.

Reversed and remanded.

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Bluebook (online)

429 F.2d 569, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nettie-lee-fontenot-plaintiffs-appellees-cross-v-nicklos-drilling-ca5-1970.

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