PortSide NewYork is hosting a fascinating virtual talk with Captain Lawrence Brennan, a Fordham law Professor, and PortSide Executive Director Carolina Salguero about the Supreme Court decision US vs RELIABLE TRANSFER involving PortSide’s historic ship Mary A. Whalen. Brennan and Salguero will be on the Mary A. Whalen together, allowing you to see some of the ship.
The talk will be on Zoom on Thursday, June 10, 2021, from to This virtual lunchtime presentation is tailored to a general audience and landlubbers, not just admiralty lawyers. There will be several opportunities for Q&A.
“On a dark and stormy night” says the Supreme Court decision about the tanker Mary A. Whalen going aground on the Rockaways at Christmas time 1968. The owners of the loaded tanker blamed the accident on the Coast Guard since the flashing light on an aid to navigation was out. The Coast Guard said the captain was at fault. In 1975, the argument was resolved by the Supreme Court decision U.S. vs RELIABLE TRANSFER.
Brennan lectures on RELIABLE TRANSFER regularly and has often litigated the issues from the US Supreme Court decision. In fact, he worked at the US Department of Justice office that tried the case and handled the appeal.
This major case is taught to all maritime law students. SCOTUS ruled that in marine accidents, damages should be apportioned according to blame. Sounds logical, but prior to this decision, damages were split 50/50 regardless, and those at fault could shirk the financial consequences of their actions. This 1975 decision overturned US maritime law in effect since 1854 and had the USA finally join maritime practice common in other nations. US Courts had been struggling for decades to make this change, with the famous Judge Learned Hand dismissing US admiralty law on these cases as an “obstinate cleaving to the ancient rule which has been abrogated by nearly all civilized nations.”
Click here to learn more and to RSVP for the virtual presentation.