The Pappadakis family’s Kassian Maritime has won a US ruling allowing key elements of its claims against the US government to go forward in a lawsuit poised to test the limits of the US Coast Guard (USCG)’s detention power during pollution investigations.
The case is latest of a handful that have challenged the scope of the USCG’s power to force shipowners accused of violations of Marpol Annex I, which regulates oil discharges, to agree to costly security agreements while they are under investigation, even though they have not been found guilty.
