CANTUBA v. American Bureau of Shipping

_|_¡AU seamen aboard the M/V MARIKA perished when the vessel disappeared in a bitter North Atlantic winter storm. As a result of the majority’s decision, the widows and orphaned children of the seamen aboard the M/V MARIKA will forever lose their day in court, without a scintilla of evidence that they knowingly and/or willfully violated a court order.

Although La.Code Civ. Proc. art. 1471 provides that dismissal is a remedy available to courts for a party’s failure to comply with court-ordered discovery, the Louisiana Supreme Court has clarified that dismissal is a draconian penalty and is…