Paper by Robert M. Hughes III and D. Arthur Kelsey
Parties involved with the manufacture and transportation of toxic substances expose themselves to the worst of all forms of civil sanction: uncertain and essentially unpredictable liability. The rapid growth of the chemical age has not been accompanied by a consistent system of rights and liabilities. This problem becomes worse when the facts implicate admiralty jurisdiction. Even with its historically flexible nature, the general maritime law has not fashioned contemporary answers to these questions. Maritime law has been tempered with the admiralty's disinclination either to supersede traditional state tort law and thereby offend principles of federalism or to preempt legislative solutions and thereby offend the doctrine of separation of powers.
International efforts to develop comprehensive plans for toxic and environmental liability have not succeeded. Various federal statutes govern cleanup liability yet do not provide any remedy for individual victims. This paper surveys the principal forms of maritime law governing toxic and environmental liability focusing on the areas of contemporary concern. Although products liability actions are highlighted, other types of liability actions are discussed to demonstrate the impact of maritime law on toxic and environmental torts.
About the Author
Robert M. Hughes III. L.L.B., University of Virginia, 1957. Counsel, Hunton & Williams, Norfolk, Virginia. Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers. Fellow, International Society of Barristers. Member, Maritime Law Association. Advisory Editor of Maritime Lawyer. Editor of American Maritime Cases.
D. Arthur Kelsey. J.D., College of William and Mary, 1985. Associate, Hunton & Williams, Norfolk, Virginia. Former Law Clerk to Honorable John A. MacKenzie, Judge of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Citation
62 Tul. L. Rev. 405 (1988)