I have a problem with putting a price on emotional distress and pain and suffering even though I’ve represented injured plaintiffs for my entire career. By contrast, I am very comfortable putting a price on bad behavior in the [...]

Arbitration clauses in employment contracts are increasingly being enforced by the courts, eroding the rights of workers, including seamen, to a jury trial. Yacouba Diarra is a citizen of Mali in West Africa who is in the U.S. on [...]

Your Content Goes Here “John, I need your help on a maritime case.” It was Patrick Pleas on the other end of the phone call, a legal aid lawyer from Northwest Justice Project in Wenatchee. I’d worked with Patrick [...]

The case should have settled with a phone call. I didn’t know at the time that only $1,900 was at issue in a wage claim for a commercial fisherman. Instead of settling with a phone call, the case went [...]

Many years ago in these pages the question was asked: “Are Surveillance Films Discoverable?” (Trial News July/Aug. 2000). The majority position of course was and is ‘yes’, but only after the plaintiff has been pinned down at deposition about what [...]

After 12 years in the merchant marine – while going to school between ships – I changed careers in 1982, switching from merchant seaman to lawyer. I’ve represented all types of seamen in wage and injury claims ever since. [...]