Our attorneys share a broad range
of knowledge and expertise, affording our clients full legal
services in all phases of trial and appellate practice in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and in some of our practice
areas, throughout the United States. Our concentrations
of practice are briefly described below.
Our admiralty and maritime practice includes all aspects
of "brown water" and offshore marine operations.
We represent barge owners and operators, towboat companies,
line haul operators, cargo interests, stevedores, fleets
and terminals, as well as marine underwriters. Our offshore
clients include natural resource exploration companies,
vessel operators, divers, construction companies, dredge
operators and the nation's only deepwater port. We handle
both property damage and personal injury claims, cargo claims
and subrogation, vessel seizures and enforcement of maritime
liens, as well as any other energy and offshore related
litigation.
We provide complete corporate and commercial services to
our clients, from consulting on all aspects of corporate
formation, partnerships, limited liability companies and
other legal entities, to assisting in the negotiation of
contracts, employment and labor issues, and other corporate
transactions. We handle all types of contract negotiation
and enforcement matters and have particular expertise in
the areas of vessel construction and financing, sales, chartering,
crewing, management, service, fleeting, brokerage and affreightment
agreements.
Our litigation practice includes representing
corporate clients and individuals in business and claims,
possessory actions, mortgage foreclosures, garnishments
and attachments, restraining orders, injunctive relief and
judgment debtor issues. Our business and commercial clients
range from sole proprietors to Fortune 500 companies and
include maritime, agricultural and energy-related companies.
The firm has handled a broad range of environmental matters
and toxic tort litigation. We have partnered with criminal
defense attorneys to provide response to environmental investigations
and prosecutions and assisted in counseling our clients
on developing preventive programs and statutory compliance
to avoid environmental problems. We have successfully defended
litigation arising out of pollution spills, hazardous waste
and other environmental damage litigation, and have represented
clients in oil pollution fund reimbursement claims. In toxic
tort claims, we have represented corporate and insurance
clients in asbestosis, silicosis and other occupational
disease litigation.
Our attorneys have extensive experience and expertise in
handling general casualty litigation in both state and federal
courts. We have defended corporate and insurance clients
in a broad range of suits, from simple "slip and fall"
cases to complex catastrophic injuries to class action toxic
tort lawsuits. A substantial portion of our practice includes
defense of insurance clients and their insureds in general
casualty, maritime, commercial, automobile, trucking, product
liability, medical malpractice, construction and environmental
and toxic tort litigation. We have also counseled our insurance
and non-insurance clients in complex coverage matters, including
defense and indemnity, coverage opinions, denials of coverage,
reservations of rights and co-insurance.
Our clientele includes transportation companies and automobile/trucking
liability insurers. We have successfully litigated personal
injury, death and property damage claims arising out of
vehicular accidents, as well as shipping/cargo claims. In
addition, we have successfully defended a substantial number
of low impact collision claims. Where fraud and exaggeration
of claims is suspected, we have aggressively defended automobile
liability matters.
We have particular expertise in the field of defending workers'
compensation claims, both under state and federal statutory
schemes. The firm has handled longshore compensation claims
at all levels, including the representation of employers
and carriers before the Office of Workers' Compensation,
the Office of Administrative Law Judges, the Benefits Review
Board, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
and the United States Supreme Court. Our attorneys have
handled longshore claims literally coast to coast, including
the Ports of New Orleans; Houston, Texas; Mobile, Alabama;
Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South
Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama;
Louisville, Kentucky; Baltimore, Maryland; and Honolulu,
Hawaii. We handle Louisiana Workers' Compensation Claims
statewide at every level of the litigation process. This
includes mediation and trial at the Office of Workers' Compensation
Administration and through all appellate levels, paying
particular attention to involving both employers and their
insurers in the defense process.
Defense
Base Act and War Hazards Compensation Act
Claims arising under the Defense Base Act and War Hazards
Compensation Act have been of growing importance as a result
of the war on terror being waged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The handling of Defense Base Act claims has been a natural
fit for our firm, given our broad experience with longshore
claims, as the Defense Base Act incorporates the longshore
act’s remedies. We handle Defense Base Act claims worldwide,
as well as handling reimbursement claims under the War
Hazards Compensation Act .
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