Vessel Employer Defense: Winning Seaman Status Summary Judgment and Ending Maintenance and Cure Without Punitive Exposure

Sara B. Kuebel, Partner | Jones Walker LLP

Sara B. Kuebel is a partner in the Maritime Practice Group at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, where her practice concentrates on maritime litigation, including Jones Act, general maritime law, Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act claims. She has tried Jones Act personal injury cases for employers in bench and jury trials, handled appeals to the Louisiana appellate courts and the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and drafted amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court. She is a co-author of Admiralty in a Nutshell and teaches a course on maritime commerce as an adjunct professor at LSU Law.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Kuebel earned her JD and DCL, summa cum laude, from the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2018, where she was a member of the Louisiana Law Review and the Order of the Coif and competed on the national champion team at the John R. Brown National Admiralty Moot Court Competition. She holds a BA in Political Science, cum laude, from Louisiana State University (2015). She is admitted to practice in Louisiana and Texas, before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and in the US District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana and the Southern District of Texas.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ms. Kuebel is recognized by Best Lawyers as one of its Ones to Watch in Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants and Transportation Law (2022–2027), by Louisiana Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Transportation/Maritime (2025, 2026), and by The Legal 500 United States in Transport – Shipping: Litigation and Regulation (2023, 2024) and among its Leading Associates annually since 2025. She received the American Law Institute’s Leadership and Scholarship Award. She serves on the USA Board of Directors of the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (2026–present), was President of the WISTA New Orleans Chapter from 2024 to 2026, and sits on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Young Leadership Council.

• Professional Involvement

Ms. Kuebel’s recent presentations include “Seaman Status” at the Maritime Law Symposium in New Orleans (November 14, 2025), “The Many Types of Seapersons” at the New Orleans Bar Association Procrastinators’ Program CLE (December 17, 2025), “Seaman Status, LHWCA, OCSLA, Removal, Remand, State Comp Boundary” in the myLawCLE webinar Maritime Jurisdiction in State-Court Injury Cases (July 29, 2026), and “Till Death Do Us Partly Owe Non-Pecuniary Damages” for the NOBA Maritime & International Law Committee (March 19, 2025). She has spoken at the Judge Alvin B. Rubin Conference on Maritime Personal Injury Law at LSU Law in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and discussed seaman status impacts to the offshore space on Marine Log’s Listen Up! podcast (May 9, 2023). Her publications include “Doing Aweigh with Uncertainty: Navigating Jones Act Seamen’s Claims Against Third Parties” (78 La. L. Rev. 945, 2018), “The New Status Quo: Louisiana First Circuit Reverses Trial Court on Vessel Status and Seaman Status” (December 2022), “Eastern District of Louisiana Recognizes Punitive Damages under Section 905(b) of the LHWCA” (March 2019), and “Supreme Court To Determine Availability of Punitive Damages in Unseaworthiness Actions” (The Waterways Journal, February 2019). She co-authored Cases and Materials on Maritime Law, 4th Edition, and Admiralty in a Nutshell, 8th Edition (West Academic Publishing, 2022), and wrote the Recent Developments in Admiralty and Maritime Law surveys for the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal in 2020 and 2021. She is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Louisiana State Bar Association.

• Experience

Ms. Kuebel represented a Jones Act employer in a personal injury case that resulted in a judgment for the employer after a bench trial, and represented the defense in a Jones Act personal injury case tried to a jury in Harris County, Texas, where a Texas appellate court reversed the verdict and rendered a takenothing judgment. She represented the seller of a barge in a barge explosion case involving personal injury, wrongful death, breach of contract, and breach of warranty claims, in which the jury found for her client on the contractual claims after a two-week trial, and represented a vessel owner in a charter party arbitration that produced a final award for the owner. She also drafts charter party agreements, master service agreements, and other transportation-related contracts.

Christopher M. Hannan, Partner | Jones Walker LLP

Christopher M. Hannan is a partner in the Maritime Practice Group at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans, where he represents vessel companies, offshore service providers, and marine insurers in Jones Act, Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act cases, in marine insurance coverage and limitation of liability actions, and in the indemnity and risk-allocation disputes that follow a casualty. His background includes a secondment as a claims handler with a Lloyd’s of London syndicate and a fixed-premium protection and indemnity insurer, where he handled vessel operations and general marine claims. His practice spans the blue water and brown water industries, offshore infrastructure, and offshore operations, in matters litigated domestically and internationally.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Hannan earned his JD, magna cum laude, from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 2008, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Loyola Law Review and received Law Excellence Awards in Maritime Personal Injury, Evidence, and Civil Procedure, among other subjects. He holds a BA in Classics, summa cum laude, from the College of the Holy Cross (2004), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Following law school he clerked for Judge Carl J. Barbier of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He is admitted to practice in Louisiana, before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and in the US District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Hannan is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Admiralty and Maritime Law (2020–2025 and 2027) and Insurance Law (2023–2025 and 2027), and in Louisiana Super Lawyers for Transportation/Maritime annually since 2022, after being named a Rising Star from 2015 to 2021. He was recognized among Thomson Reuters’ 2025 Stand-out Lawyers and has been a New Orleans Magazine Top Lawyer annually since 2017. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Maritime Law Association of the United States for the 2024–2027 term, chairs its International Organizations, Conventions and Standards Committee and its Offshore Vessels Subcommittee, and sits on the National Advisory Board and Planning and Program Committee of the Tulane Admiralty Law Institute.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Hannan presented “Seaman Status, LHWCA, OCSLA, Removal, Remand, State Comp Boundary” in the myLawCLE webinar Maritime Jurisdiction in State-Court Injury Cases (July 29, 2026), “Admiralty Jurisdiction” at the Maritime Law Symposium in New Orleans (November 14, 2025), and “Covering the Waterfront: A Primer on Marine Insurance and Navigating Current Issues” at The Seminar Group’s 2024 Insurance Law in Louisiana Conference. He has also spoken at the 2026, 2024, and 2018 Tulane Admiralty Law Institutes and at Maritime Law Association meetings. His publications include “Fifth Circuit shapes offshore contract jurisprudence” (Marine Log, May 2026), “To Hell with ‘Oh, Hell Why Not?’ – The Fifth Circuit en Banc Reverses ‘Estis v. McBride Well Service L.L.C.'” (Louisiana Oil & Gas Association Industry Report, Summer 2015), and articles in Law360 and Offshore Magazine. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the Association of Average Adjusters of the US and Canada, and a Comité Maritime International working group, and formerly served as an associate editor of American Maritime Cases.

• Experience

Mr. Hannan has represented vessel companies and offshore service providers in personal injury and indemnity claims under general maritime law, the Jones Act, and OCSLA, obtaining summary judgment dismissing indemnity claims under the Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act, affirmed on appeal, and dismissing personal injury claims under borrowing employer immunity. He represented the London insurance market in the Deepwater Horizon multidistrict litigation and in the sinking of the Petronius platform off Alabama, obtained a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of claims against hull and machinery underwriters arising from a jack-up vessel grounding, and secured pre-discovery dismissal, affirmed by the Fifth Circuit, of a multimillion-dollar international claim over damage to a submarine power cable. He has also prevailed on wrongful arrest claims for vessel owners, among only a few reported successes in Louisiana in about twenty years, and represented a recreational vessel owner in a fatal two-vessel collision and the related personal injury and property claims.

Jedd S. Malish, Member | King & Jurgens, L.L.C

Jedd S. Malish is a Member of King & Jurgens, L.L.C. in New Orleans, where he defends personal injury and wrongful death claims under the Jones Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and general maritime law for clients in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. He also counsels vessel-side clients on drafting and negotiating master service agreements, marine transportation agreements, purchase order terms and conditions, and warranty provisions. His litigation practice extends to collisions, allisions, sinkings, salvage, pipeline ruptures, pollution, commercial disputes, insurance coverage, subrogation, and recreational boating accidents.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Malish earned his JD from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 1995 and a BA in History from Tulane University in 1991. He is admitted to practice in Louisiana, in the US District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana, and before the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Malish holds the Proctor in Admiralty designation of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and serves as Co-chair of the Admiralty Committee of the Federal Bar Association. He received The Pro Bono Project’s Distinguished Service Award in 2021, was named to the New Orleans CityBusiness Leadership in Law list in 2018, and serves on The Pro Bono Project’s Board of Directors, where he was Chair in 2022.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Malish presented “A Discussion of the Employer’s Maintenance and Cure Obligation” to the New Orleans Bar Association Maritime & International Law Committee (October 23, 2015), “When the Bad Things Happen: Identifying and Minimizing the Risk of Punitive and Criminal Penalties” for the Workboat Professional Series (December 1, 2015), and “Recent Developments in Maritime Law” to the Maritime Law Association’s Uniformity Committee (Spring and Fall 2008). His other programs include “Legal Issues Encountered in the Litigation of Recreational Boating Incidents” for the New Orleans Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (May 22, 2019), “Wreck Removal and Salvage” for CNA Insurance Company’s US Marine Claims Division (June 8, 2016), and CLE sessions for the Association of Corporate Counsel and the National Business Institute. He was a contributing author of the Admiralty and Maritime Survey Article in the American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice Law Journal (2016). He is a member of the Southeastern Admiralty Law Institute, the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, the Defense Research Institute, The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance, and the Mariners Club of the Port of New Orleans, and serves as a brief judge for the Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition.

• Experience

Mr. Malish’s casualty defense work spans Jones Act, LHWCA, and general maritime law injury and death claims, as well as collisions, allisions, sinkings, salvage, pipeline ruptures, pollution, insurance coverage, subrogation, and recreational boating litigation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. His firm reports that he obtained a not guilty verdict in a criminal maritime case. On the transactional side, he drafts and negotiates master service agreements, marine transportation agreements, purchase order terms and conditions, and warranty provisions.

Austin S. Glascoe, Associate | Jones Walker LLP

Austin S. Glascoe is an associate in the Maritime Practice Group at Jones Walker LLP in New Orleans and a member of the firm’s maritime litigation, arbitration, and dispute resolution team. His litigation work includes personal injury claims under the Jones Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, vessel collision cases under the Limitation of Liability Act, charter party disputes, and environmental claims, and he has litigated matters through trial and appeal in state and federal courts.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Glascoe earned his JD from the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 2018, where he was Senior Editor of the LSU Journal of Energy Law & Resources and competed in the Ira S. Flory Mock Trial Competition and the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition. He holds a BS in Biology from Xavier University in Cincinnati (2015). He is admitted to practice in Louisiana and in the US District Courts for the Eastern, Middle, and Western Districts of Louisiana.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Glascoe has been listed among Best Lawyers’ Ones to Watch in Transportation Law for New Orleans annually since 2024 and named a Louisiana Super Lawyers Rising Star in Transportation/Maritime in 2025 and 2026.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Glascoe presented “Vanished Without a Trace: An Examination of Evidence and Witnesses in Vessel Sinking Cases” at The Gavel Summer Summit in 2022 and authored “Regulators Respond to Casualty Incidents, Harassment Cases Across the Maritime Industry” for Professional Mariner (October 21, 2024). He is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the New Orleans Bar Association, and the Mississippi Valley Trade & Transport Council.

• Experience

Mr. Glascoe handles marine accident investigations and advises clients on vessel collisions, property damage, and personal injuries alongside his Jones Act and LHWCA injury defense, Limitation of Liability Act, charter party, and environmental litigation. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, he practices from the firm’s New Orleans office.

SESSION 1 – Building the Seaman Status Summary Judgment Record for Mixed Land and Vessel Workers | Jedd S. Malish | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This hour is for the defense lawyer who must advise a vessel employer, operator, or P&I club this week whether to contest seaman status for a mixed land-and-vessel worker. It shows how to build the natureof-connection record from dispatch logs, crew-change data, hitch schedules, MSAs, and vessel ownership and charter records. It uses Santee II, Bommarito, Stringer, and Clapp to separate records that win from records that lose. Attendees work a sample assignment log to calculate time-in-service and score the three Sanchez nature factors, and they leave with a status-record checklist and an LHWCA-fork pre-motion questionnaire.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Making the Maintenance and Cure Call on Incomplete Medical Facts Without Punitive Exposure | Sara B. Kuebel, Christopher M. Hannan & Austin S. Glascoe | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This hour is for the defense lawyer who must tell a P&I club or vessel employer this week whether to pay, investigate, or terminate maintenance and cure before the medical picture is clear. Working from the 2025 *Ward v. M/Y Utopia IV* fee-entitlement order, where a willfulness finding on delay alone carried fee entitlement, the session covers three mid-claim scenarios: a new surgical recommendation, a suspected concealed prior injury, and an MMI opinion from an IME that conflicts with the treater. Attendees make the call in each scenario and leave with four tools: a decision tree, a maintenance-rate worksheet built on the *Hall* comparison test, a reservation-of-rights paragraph drafted around *Boudreaux*, and an MMI inquiry letter template.