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The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) made headlines following the Deepwater Horizon explosion, as people became concerned that BP would get away with paying only minimal damages to the family members of the 11 rig workers who died in that tragic offshore accident. One thing about DOHSA that many people may not know is that it also applies to certain airplane and helicopter crashes. When a commercial plane or helicopter crashes at sea, depending on where the crash occurs, family members of those killed in the accident may be able to file wrongful death claims under DOHSA. In accordance with the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act of the 21st Century, which Congress passed in 2000, commercial aviation crashes that occur more than 12 nautical miles from a U.S. shoreline fall under the purview of DOHSA. Prior to this act, the applicable distance for aviation crashes…
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The BP Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred more than three nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline, making the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) applicable to wrongful death claims filed by family members of the 11 rig workers who died in this tragic offshore accident. Sadly, because this maritime law is outdated, it can drastically limit the amount of damages that grieving families are able to recover. Gordon Jones left behind a pregnant wife and child when he died suddenly and unexpectedly in the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Because DOHSA typically limits damages to loss of support, his widow would have faced an uphill battle if she sought compensation for her grief and loss of companionship or for her children’s loss of their father’s love. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 5503 on July 1, 2010, a bill seeking to amend DOHSA to allow the spouses and children of workers killed…
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On April 20, 2010, an offshore drilling rig known as the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion claimed the lives of 11 crewmembers and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history. British Petroleum (BP) leased the rig from Transocean. This devastating offshore accident added fuel to the already hotly debated topic of tort reform. Advocates of tort reform gained a victory in 1990 when the Oil Pollution Act capped the oil spill liability of offshore drillers at $75 million. As the BP oil spill damage estimates entered the billions, it became clear that maybe this cap wasn’t such a good idea. Senator Robert Menendez and others quickly co-sponsored a measure to increase the cap retroactively to $10 billion, but the bill was blocked. There also exists the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF), which is limited to $2.7 billion and receives its funding from barrel…
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