Armbruster Dripps Blotevogel LLC acts as co-counsel with Faerber & Anderson to obtain landmark federal decision protecting seaman’s rights. Roy Dripps of ADWB and Christine Anderson and Fritz Faerber of St. Louis obtained a major victory for river employees in National Maintenance v. Deering, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a counterclaim for property damage brought by the employer against the injured seaman. The 7th Circuit held that the Jones Act, required dismissal of the employer’s claim. The Court stated that “combining a property-damage counterclaim with a limitation of liability in order to wipe out a substantial personal injury claim under the Jones Act is a liability-exempting device forbidden by the Act.” The 7th Circuit includes Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois.
