HM&B Obtains Full Dismissal of Wrongful Death, Jones Act Suit on Personal Jurisdiction Grounds

Levy v. Bahamas Ferries, LTD., No. 17-024299 CA 01 (11th Cir. Ct. Dec. 10, 2018).

Jose Antonio Ramos Robles was a Honduran crew member who passed away while unloading cargo from a Panamanian flagged vessel in Bahamian territorial waters. The Estate’s representative sued the owner and operator of the vessel, who were both Bahamian corporations, and a Florida based independent contractor that provided services to the vessel.

HMB partner, Carlos J. Chardon, handled the matter on behalf of the Bahamian entities, briefed the motion to dismiss and presented oral arguments before Judge John Thornton of the 11^th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami, Florida. The Court granted the joint motion to dismiss finding in part, that general jurisdiction could not be exercised because the Bahamian Defendants did not meet the “at home” test that the United States Supreme Court reinforced in Daimler v. Bauman and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals adopted in Carmouche v. Tamborlee Mgmt., Inc., 789 F.3d 120 (11th Cir. 2015) and Wolf v. Original Canopy Tour, et.al., 2017 WL 1149092(11th Cir. Mar. 28, 2017), matters that Mr. Chardon also handled for the foreign defendants challenging jurisdiction. The Court also found that specific jurisdiction could not be exercised, in part because the alleged incident did not arise out of forum-related contacts and even if it did, minimum contacts were lacking. The Court rejected Plaintiff’s arguments that sought to characterize the independent service provider as an agent and that attributed the incident to allegedly defective cargo loading procedures that the service provider gave to the Bahamian entities.