Staines, Eppling & Kenney Preserves Victory on Appeal

Tony Staines and Corey Parenton prevailed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which affirmed the Eastern District of Louisiana’s determination that the indemnity obligation in an offshore services contract was not enforceable. The contract concerned “fire watch” services, a safety component of platform-based welding. The Fifth Circuit applied the Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act (LOIA), which prohibits one party to this kind of contract from being forced to indemnify another for its own negligence, and found that the contractor did not have to indemnify a third-party vessel owner with whom it had no direct contract. The vessel owner, who had in place a contract with the platform owner, asserted that the “fire watch” contractor should indemnify it, and that maritime law should apply instead of the LOIA, because the “fire watch” contractor should have anticipated that a vessel would have been necessary and used as part of its work on the platform, making the contract maritime in nature. The Fifth Circuit disagreed and found no evidence that the fire watch contractor had any expectation that a vessel would be used for anything other than transportation, housing, and a meeting place.

This decision bolsters a recent line of cases holding that an “ancillary” or “incidental” role of a vessel in the performance of a contract, fails to rise to the “substantial role of a vessel” necessary to make the contract maritime in nature and supplant the application of the LOIA.

A copy of the opinion is attached.

September 9 2026 Opinion.pdf

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